2023-06-13 15:09:00
Nearly 3,800 people died on the migration routes from North Africa and the Middle East in 2022, a record since 2017, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Tuesday.
‘A total of 3789 deaths were recorded in 2022, 11% more than the previous year’, according to an IOM press release, which recalls the previous grim record: 4255 deaths in 2017. The MENA region (Middle East , North Africa) accounted for ‘more than half of all global migrant deaths’ last year.
‘This alarming record calls for immediate attention and concerted efforts to strengthen the protection of migrants,’ said Othman Belbeisi, IOM Regional Director, quoted in the press release, calling for ‘more cooperation at the international and regional levels as well resources to deal with this humanitarian crisis and prevent further loss of life’.
On land migration routes in North Africa, ‘especially the dangerous crossing of the Sahara Desert’ and in the Middle East, the IOM has recorded 1,028 deaths, while stressing that the true number of deaths would be considerably higher.
Mediterranean
For overland migration, the heaviest toll was recorded ‘in Yemen, where targeted violence against migrants has intensified’, according to IOM. At least 795 people, mostly Ethiopians, died trying to cross from Yemen to Saudi Arabia.
In 2022, clandestine sea crossings between the region and Europe were marked by an ‘increased number of fatal incidents after boats left Lebanon for Greece and Italy’, with at least 174 fatalities, the half the death toll for the eastern Mediterranean in 2022.
According to the IOM website, 2,406 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean alone – eastern, central and western – in 2022 (+16.7% over one year). And since the beginning of 2023, 1166 deaths or disappearances have already been listed.
/ATS
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