For sixth consecutive year, migrant, refugee death toll in Mediterranean tops 1,000 victims
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More than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that this “bleak milestone” has been reached, the United Nations announced in a statement.
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR called for European Union (EU) member states to reactivate search and rescue operations and acknowledge the crucial role of aid groups’ vessels in saving lives at sea.
The EU struck a deal with Ankara in 2016 to cut off refugee and migrant flows to Greece from Turkey.
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Some of the 35 migrants, who were rescued when they sailed on a small canoe near Alboran Island on the Mediterramean Sea, arrive to the Motril’s Port in Granada, southern Spain, 01 October 2019. EPA-EFE/Miguel Paquet
Migrants from Afghanistan arrive on a dinghy on the coast of Skala Sikamias, on the island of Lesvos, Greece, 01 October 2019. EPA-EFE/STRATIS BALASKAS
Departures, now also diverted largely via Libya and other parts of North Africa, have fallen sharply from a peak of more than 1 million in 2015 to some 78,000 so far this year, UNHCR figures show.
UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told Reuters Television that: “It is also worth highlighting that 70 percent of the deaths actually occur on the central Mediterranean, namely people attempting to get from Libya across to Italy or Malta.”
More than 18,000 people have lost their lives in Mediterranean crossings since 2014, according to figures from both the UNHCR and the website of the U.N.‘s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
