More than 3,000 people died or disappeared last year when they tried to reach Europe by sea routes in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, according to a report released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) this Friday (29).
The figure is double that of 2020, when 1,544 deaths were reported on both routes, according to the high commission.
The UN arm started releasing consolidated reports on the matter in 2019 and since then the annual numbers have grown. So far, the year 2022 has recorded 478 deaths or disappearances of people trying to reach the continent by sea.
According to the UNHCR, the Covid pandemic and the closing of borders in an attempt to contain the virus have had a direct impact on migratory flows. With no other alternatives, many immigrants turned to traffickers to try to leave their countries for Europe.
“We have insisted that humanitarian development actions need to be strengthened to address the factors that force people to migrate,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told a news conference in Geneva. The organization has urged governments to develop alternatives so that immigrants are not at the mercy of traffickers or put their lives at risk.
The most recent report indicates that more than 53,000 people arrived in Italy by sea last year, a figure that is 83% more than a year earlier. Another 23,000 people landed in the Canary Islands, a similar number to 2020.
There was a 61% increase in the number of those emigrating by sea from Tunisia last year compared to the previous year. For Libya, the jump was 150% in the same period. Already the departures from Algeria increased by about 3%. Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Eritrea, Egypt and Senegal are also points of attention for the material.
Most sea crossings, which can take up to 10 days, are made with inflatable boats that are overcrowded and in a poor state of repair — many vessels deflate or capsize in the ocean, which causes the death and disappearance of migrants.
Figures collected by UNHCR do not include those migrants who disappear or die during land routes, such as those traveling through the Sahara desert, nor those held in centers run by smugglers, where survivors report cases of sexual violence, marriage and forced labor. .
The Mediterranean is the deadliest migratory route in the world. Since 2014, an IOM (International Organization for Migration) project has documented at least 17,000 deaths and disappearances along the way.
Australian Shabia Mantoo added that death is not the only danger for immigrants, who also face human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions, illegal and arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced and slavery-like labor.
UNHCR has requested US$163.5 million to help boost humanitarian assistance to those in need of international protection and to survivors of human rights abuses. The largest amount would go to North Africa and the Ivory Coast.
The organization also said that factors such as political instability, socio-economic deterioration and the climate emergency are likely to cause increased migration to Europe in the coming years.
