Over 29k Migrants Lost Their Lives Attempting to Reach Europe Since 2014, Statistics Show
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) pointed out that at least 5,684 migrants have lost their lives attempting to enter Europe since the beginning of this year, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The report also brought to light the fact that the Central Mediterranean route was the deadliest migration route from Tunisia, Libya to Malta and Italy, with migrants crossing the sea in dangerous and rickety rafts.
The figures provided by the International Organisation for Migration pointed out that a total of 2,836 migrants, as well as refugees, have lost their lives along this route since January 2021, marking a notable increase in the previous period.
Over 1,500 deaths have been registered on the Atlantic Ocean route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands since 2021.
The United Nations agency’s Missing Migrants Project has said that “increasing numbers of deaths.”
According to the agency, a large number of deaths could have been prevented by prompt and effective assistance to migrants in distress, while structural failure to provide adequate safe pathways.
The report stressed that citizens of Syria accounted for the majority of deaths registered on route to Europe, followed by those who attempted to reach unlawfully to European countries from Morocco and Algeria.
The agency also said that at least 252 migrants have lost their lives as alleged illegal pushbacks or forced expulsions by authorities in European countries.
The report also noted that a total of 97 of the pushback-related deaths were documented in the Central Mediterranean, a total of 70 in the Easter Mediterranean, 58 on the Turkey-Greece land border, while 23 in the Western Mediterranean and four on the Belarus-Poland border.
“Such cases are nearly impossible to verify in full due to the lack of transparency, lack of access, and the highly politicised nature of such events,” the IOM report notes.
The European Union emphasises the fact that pushbacks go against European Union law.
“These continuing deaths are another grim reminder that more legal and safe pathways to migration are desperately needed,” the report’s author, Julia Black, pointed out in this regard.
According to a recent report provided by the European Union Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), 33,380 people reached the EU countries by illegally crossing the EU external borders in September this year, marking a 25 per cent increase compared to September figures.
