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PROJECT DOCUMENTS MORE THAN 63,000 MIGRANT DEATHS A DECADE, IMMENSE DANGER OF
FLEEING HOME

World Mar 27, 2024 12:52 PM EST

BERLIN (AP) — More than a decade ago, the death of 600 migrants and refugees in
two Mediterranean shipwrecks near Italian shores shocked the world and prompted
the U.N. migration agency to start recording the number of people who died or
went missing as they fled conflict, persecution or poverty to other countries.

Governments around the world have repeatedly pledged to save migrants’ lives and
fight smugglers while tightening borders. Yet 10 years on, a report by the
International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project published
Tuesday shows the world is no safer for people on the move.

READ MORE: How climate change is contributing to migration out of North Africa

On the contrary, migrant deaths have soared.

Since tracking began in 2014, more than 63,000 have died or are missing and
presumed dead, according to the Missing Migrants Project, with 2023 the
deadliest year yet.

“The figures are quite alarming,” Jorge Galindo, a spokesperson at IOM’s Global
Data Institute, told The Associated Press. “We see that 10 years on, people
continue to lose their lives in search of a better one.”

The report says the deaths are “likely only a fraction of the actual number of
lives lost worldwide” because of the difficulty in obtaining and verifying
information. For example, on the Atlantic route from Africa’s west coast to
Spain’s Canary Islands, entire boats have reportedly vanished in what are known
as “invisible shipwrecks.” Similarly, countless deaths in the Sahara desert are
believed to go unreported.

Even when deaths are recorded, more than two-thirds of the victims remain
unidentified. That can be due to lack of information and resources, or simply
because identifying dead migrants is not considered a priority.

Experts have called the growing number of unidentified migrants around the world
a crisis comparable to mass casualties seen in wartime.

Behind each nameless death is a family facing “the psychological, social,
economic and legal impacts of unresolved disappearances,” a painful phenomenon
known as “ambiguous loss,” the report says.

READ MORE: Texas blocked border agents attempting to save 3 migrants who
drowned, U.S. officials say

“Governments need to work together with civil society to make sure that the
families that are left behind, not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones,
can have better access to the remains of people who have died,” Galindo said.

Of the victims whose nationalities were known to IOM, one in three died while
fleeing countries in conflict.

Nearly 60% of the deaths recorded by the IOM in the last decade were related to
drowning. The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s largest migrant grave with more
than 28,000 deaths recorded in the last decade. Thousands of drownings have also
been recorded on the U.S.-Mexico border, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of
Aden and increasingly in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea where desperate
Rohingya refugees are embarking on overcrowded boats.

“Search and rescue capacities to assist migrants at sea must be strengthened, in
line with international law and the principle of humanity,” the report says.

Currently on the Mediterranean “the large majority of search and rescue is done
by nongovernmental organizations,” Galindo said.

When the Missing Migrants Project began in 2014, European sentiment was more
sympathetic to the plight of migrants, and the Italian government had launched
“Mare Nostrum,” a major search-and-rescue mission that saved thousands of lives.

But the solidarity didn’t last, and European search and rescue missions were
progressively cut back after fears that they would encourage smugglers to launch
even more people on cheaper and deadlier boats. That’s when NGOs stepped in.

Their help has not always been welcomed. In Italy and Greece, they have faced
increasing bureaucratic and legal obstacles.

READ MORE: Boat with dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees on board capsizes off
Indonesia’s coast

Following the 2015-2016 migration crisis, the European Union began outsourcing
border control and sea rescues to North African countries to “save lives” while
also keeping migrants from reaching European shores.

The controversial partnerships have been criticized by human rights advocates,
particularly the one with Libya. EU-trained and funded Libyan coast guards have
been linked to human traffickers exploiting migrants who are intercepted and
brought back to squalid detention centers. A U.N.-backed group of experts has
found that the abuses committed against migrants on the Mediterranean and in
Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.

Despite the rise of border walls and heightened surveillance worldwide,
smugglers always seem to find lucrative alternatives, leading migrants and
refugees on longer and more perilous routes.

“There’s an absence of safe migration options,” Galindo said. “And this needs to
change.”

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Left: Family members of people lost at sea hold pictures of their missing
relatives during a protest as it was the poor conditions that they believe drove
their loved ones to their deaths at sea and demanding more work to retrieve
their bodies, in Tunis, Tunisia, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo by Jihed
Abidellaoui/Reuters


RELATED

 * Europe may see new influx of migrants if conflict in Sudan persists, UN
   refugee chief says
   
   By Tom Odula, Associated Press

 * Southern Mexico bus crash kills at least 16 migrants, injures dozens
   
   By Associated Press

 * Activists accuses Italy of slow response that led to migrant deaths at sea
   
   By Colleen Barry, Associated Press

 * How U.S. immigration policy is pushing migrants to take more dangerous routes
   
   By Stephanie Sy

 * More migrant deaths recorded in heat along Arizona border
   
   By Anita Snow, Associated Press


GO DEEPER

 * migrant deaths
 * migrants
 * migration
 * migration crisis
 * refugee deaths
 * refugees

By —

Renata Brito, Associated Press Renata Brito, Associated Press

By —

Kerstin Sopke, Associated Press Kerstin Sopke, Associated Press

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HOW U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY IS PUSHING MIGRANTS TO TAKE MORE DANGEROUS ROUTES

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