2023-07-14 18:49:31
The situation is worsening at the gates of Europe. This Friday, the World Organization of the United Nations (UN) announced 289 children had died in the first six months of the year 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean. A figure on the rise. Indeed, it is twice as high as that of the first six months of 2022, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), calling for the creation of safe humanitarian corridors allowing children to find refuge in Europe.
“The number of children who have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe has doubled in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year,” the official told reporters. Migrations and Displaced Persons at Unicef, Verena Knaus. “We estimate that in the first six months of this year, 11,600 children made the crossing, also double compared to the same period of 2022,” she said.
“These children need to know that they are not alone”
In the first three months of 2023, 3,300 children making the crossing – 71% of the total number – were unaccompanied or had been separated from their families, according to UNICEF. This figure is three times higher compared to the same period of the previous year. “These children need to know that they are not alone. Leaders around the world must act urgently,” argued Verena Knaus.
Along the way, these children may be exposed to arrest, deprivation, torture, trafficking, exploitation and rape, with girls being particularly vulnerable. “It’s the reality, the shocking reality, but we seem to come to terms with the fact that day after day children are losing their lives,” Verena Knaus also said. “These children are dying, not just before our eyes, but also, it seems, as we close our eyes.”
MEPs on Thursday called for the development of a “reliable and permanent search and rescue strategy” for migrants in the Mediterranean, after a shipwreck in mid-June off the Greek coast which could have killed more than 600 people. An old and overloaded trawler from Libya sank off the coast of Greece on the night of June 13 to 14. Only 104 exiles were able to be rescued while the boat was carrying around 750 people, note the MEPs. Eighty-two bodies were recovered but the other castaways are presumed dead.
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