The Alan Kurdi picked up 64 migrants last Wednesday. Neither Italy nor Malta will allow the ship to dock. It’s the latest standoff between national authorities and migrant rescue boats in the Med.

The policy of “zero tolerance” towards undocumented migrants is borrowed from Australia. The current centre-right coalition in Canberra came to power in 2013 promising to “stop the boats” of asylum seekers. A military operation, Operation Sovereign Borders, was set up to intercept migrant boats. Posters boasted “No Way: You Will Not Make Australia Home”.

The EU has also taken the policy of “offshoring” from Australia. Canberra has refused to allow migrants on intercepted boats to land on Australian soil. Instead, they’ve been locked up in the infamous offshore detention centres of Manus Island and Nauru.

The EU has taken offshoring further. It has agreements with countries across Africa and the Middle East, including Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Turkey, paying them billions to lock up would-be or thought-to-be migrants to Europe. The result has been the creation of a kidnap-and-detention industry across the region and new crises in countries such as Niger.

It’s one of the great scandals of our time. But just as opposition to Australia’s immigration policy has been muted, so it is in Europe. Those who shout loudly about the merits of freedom of movement within the EU fall silent when it comes to the EU’s offshoring policies.

The Alan Kurdi was named after a Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in 2015. The incident caused a huge outcry. But while dead bodies elicit sympathy, live migrants are met only with closed doors and silence.

• Kenan Malik is an Observer correspondent