GENEVA – At least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe by sea in the first six months of this year – more than double from the same period last year, said the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) today.
It said 513 migrants are known to have drowned trying to make the crossing in the first six months of last year, reported Anadolu Agency.
“IOM reiterates the call on states to take urgent and proactive steps to reduce loss of life on maritime migration routes to Europe, and uphold their obligations under international law,” said director-general António Vitorino.
“Increasing search-and-rescue (SAR) efforts, establishing predictable disembarkation mechanisms, and ensuring access to safe and legal migration pathways are key steps towards achieving this goal.”
People attempting to cross to Europe via the Mediterranean increased by 58% between January and June this year, compared with the same period in the previous year.
The Missing Migrants Project produced the report at IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre.
It shows increased deaths coupled with insufficient SAR operations in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, where interceptions off the North African coast are also rising.
In the first half of this year, most of the men, women and children who died trying to reach Europe were attempting to cross the Mediterranean, where 896 deaths were documented.
Of the total, at least 741 died on the Central Mediterranean route, while 149 lost their lives crossing the Western Mediterranean, and six on the Eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece.
In the same period, some 250 people drowned attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands on the West Africa-Atlantic route.
“Count may be low”
However, that count may be low, said the IOM.
Non-governmental organisations in direct contact with those on board or with families have reported hundreds of cases of invisible shipwrecks – which are extremely difficult to verify, and indicate that deaths on maritime routes to Europe are far higher than the available data.
The report also shows an increase for the second straight year in North African states’ maritime operations along the Central Mediterranean route.
More than 31,500 people were intercepted or rescued by North African authorities in the first half of 2021, compared with 23,117 in the first six months of 2020.
Such operations off the coast of Tunisia increased by 90% in the first six months of 2021, compared with the corresponding period in 2020.
Over 15,300 people were returned to Libya in the first six months of this year, almost three times higher than the same period last year (5,476 people).
“This is concerning, given that migrants who are returned to Libya are subjected to arbitrary detention, disappearances, extortion and torture,” said IOM. – Bernama, July 14, 2021
