GENEVA: The UN migration agency reported on Tuesday that between 2014 and 2023, at least 63,285 people have died or vanished while traveling around the world, with drowning accounting for the majority of these fatalities.
The bulk of deaths and disappearances (28,854), according to a report on the Missing Migrants Project published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), happened in the Mediterranean, followed by Africa and Asia.
Drowning was a factor in about 60% of deaths reported, and over one-third of those victims came from conflict-ridden nations like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Burma, and Syria.
According to IOM figures, 2023 was the deadliest year for migrants in the previous ten years, with 8,541 deaths, some of which were attributable to a dramatic rise in mortality in the Mediterranean.
“The rise in fatalities is probably associated with the rise in departures and shipwrecks off the coast of Tunisia,” the research stated, noting that at least 729 individuals perished off the coast of Tunisia in 2023 as opposed to 462 in 2022.
“The majority of deaths in the Central Mediterranean were recorded off the coast of Libya in all previous years.” Since anti-immigration parties have been growing in power throughout Europe for some time, governments have made financial pledges to nations in the Mediterranean, such Tunisia and Egypt, in an effort to reduce the number of migrants entering their borders.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the EU’s offer of 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) to Egypt earlier this month, calling it “the best way to address migratory flows.” Reducing immigration is a primary concern for the governments of numerous European nations, such as Italy, Hungary, and Britain, while far-right groups like Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France are becoming more well-liked in other regions.
Among those who have advocated for increased compassion towards migrants are religious leaders. The pope has advocated for a united European response to migration in order to prevent the Mediterranean from turning into “a sea of death.”
