More than 63,000 people dead or missing while migrating over last decade, IOM says
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters At least 63,285 people have perished or disappeared on migration routes around the world between 2014 and 2023, with most deaths caused by drowning, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday. A report published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on its Missing Migrants Project showed that the majority of deaths […]
More than 3,000 people lost in sea crossings to Europe in 2021 – UN
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters More than 3,000 refugees, migrants and asylum seekers died or went missing last year while trying to reach Europe via Mediterranean and Atlantic sea routes, a UN refugee agency report showed on Friday, reporting the highest toll in recent years. Thousands of Africans take long, perilous journeys to Europe each year often traversing […]
Mediterranean has become a “wildfire hotspot”, EU scientists say
Brussels, BelgiumReuters The Mediterranean has become a wildfire hotspot, with Turkey hit by its most intense blazes on record and a heatwave producing a high risk of further fires and smoke pollution around the region, a European Union atmosphere monitor said on Wednesday. Wildfires are raging in countries including Greece and Turkey, where thousands of […]
Rescue boat with hundreds of migrants on board asks EU to find it a port
Rome, ItalyReuters A charity group asked the European Union on Tuesday to find a port where it can dock to disembark hundreds of migrants it has rescued in the central Mediterranean over recent days. Some 572 people, including 183 minors, are currently onboard the Ocean Viking vessel, the SOS Mediterranee organisation said after it picked […]
ESSAY: MORE REFUGEES ARRIVE ON GREEK ISLANDS AMID OVERCROWDING AND WATER SHORTAGES
In an article first published on The Conversation, GEMMA BIRD, a lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Liverpool in the UK, says an increase in refugee and migrant arrivals on Greek islands amid heightening tensions with locals demands a greater response from authorities…
Quick Facts – Hundreds of migrants drown trying to reach Europe
Thomson Reuters Foundation The number of migrants drowned while trying to reach Europe this year has hit 200, according to migration charities, after two dinghies sank trying cross the Mediterranean. Migrants from the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, fleeing poverty and conflicts, have tried for years to cross the Mediterranean to reach the […]
Abuse and “vilification” of migrants on the rise as borders close
Thomson Reuters Foundation Vilification of migrants as criminals, rather than people needing protection, by politicians and the media is making them more vulnerable to abuse, said a frontline humanitarian worker. Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, a humanitarian affairs adviser with Medecins Sans Frontieres who has rescued migrants from the Mediterranean Sea, instead called for the world’s most […]
Number of migrants making Mediterranean crossing drops by half in 2017, new data shows
The number of migrants who crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe last year was less than half that of the previous year but the number of deaths remains at more than 3,100 people, according to data from the International Organization for Migration. The figures, released late last week, show that an estimated 3,116 people had […]
“Just like slaves”: African migrant children face highest risk of abuse – report
Thomson Reuters Foundation Migrant children trying to reach Europe face beatings, forced labour and sexual exploitation, with sub-Saharan African children facing the highest risks, in part stoked by racism, according to a report released on Tuesday. Up to three quarters of children face abuse, exploitation and trafficking on Mediterranean migration routes, a joint report by […]
More than 2,200 have died or gone missing making Mediterranean crossing into Europe this year, says UNHCR
More than 2,200 people died or went missing at sea attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe in the first half of this year – a figure which the UN refugee agency says is down on the previous year but still “alarmingly high”. Figures published by UNHCR in a new report, Desperate Journeys, show that an estimated […]