The variety of useless, lacking migrants within the Mediterranean sea tripled this summer time in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months, the United Nations confirmed Friday.
Between June and August, no less than 990 individuals died or went lacking within the harmful central Mediterranean route between northern Africa and Europe, in comparison with 334 deaths over the identical months in 2022, the U.N.’s youngsters’s company UNICEF mentioned.
The company gave no separate quantity for kids dying throughout the crossings, however mentioned that 11,600 unaccompanied minors had been among the many migrants making an attempt to get to Italy on makeshift vessels between January and September, up 60% from the primary 9 months of 2022.
“The Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and their future,” UNICEF coordinator, Regina De Dominicis, mentioned.
“The tragic toll of children dying in search of asylum and security in Europe is the result of political choices and a defective migration system,” she mentioned.
Deadly 12 months
Earlier Thursday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported 2,500 migrants died or went lacking within the Mediterranean between Jan. 1 and Sept. 24, 50% greater than in the identical interval final 12 months.
“By Sept. 24, over 2,500 people were accounted as dead or missing in 2023 alone,” Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the UNHCR New York workplace, instructed the Security Council.
That quantity marked a big enhance over the 1,680 useless or lacking migrants in the identical interval in 2022.
“Lives are also lost on land, away from public attention,” she added.
The land journey from sub-Saharan African international locations, the place most of the migrants hail from, to departure factors on the Tunisian and Libyan coasts “remains one of the world’s most dangerous,” Menikdiwela mentioned.
The migrants and refugees “risk death and gross human rights violations at every step,” mentioned Menikdiwela.
In complete, some 186,000 individuals arrived by sea in southern Europe from January to Sept. 24, touchdown in Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta.
The majority, over 130,000 individuals, arrived in Italy, marking a rise of 83% in comparison with the identical interval in 2022.
As for departure factors, between January and August of this 12 months it’s estimated that greater than 102,000 refugees and migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and 45,000 from Libya.
An estimated 31,000 individuals have been rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia, and 10,600 in Libya, Menikdiwela mentioned.
Source: www.dailysabah.com