2023-09-28 23:35:51
More than 2,500 migrants have died or gone missing after trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since the start of the year, an official from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday.
“As of September 24, more than 2,500 people have been recorded as dead or missing” since the start of the year, an increase of almost 50% compared to “the 1,680 people during the same period” in 2022, Ruven said. Menikdiwela, director of the UNHCR office in New York, during a Security Council meeting dedicated to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
186,000 migrants arrived in southern Europe
“Lives are also being lost on earth, away from public attention,” she insisted. “The journey from West Africa or East Africa and the Horn of Africa to Libya and departure points on the coast remains one of the most dangerous in the world,” he said. she indicated. “Refugees and migrants traveling overland routes from sub-Saharan Africa risk death and serious human rights violations at every step.”
According to its figures, between January 1 and September 24, 2023, a total of 186,000 migrants arrived in southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta), including 130,000 in Italy, “an increase of 83% per year. compared to the same period of 2022”.
As for the countries of departure, between January and August 2023, more than 102,000 migrants attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia, and 45,000 from Libya. Of this number, 31,000 were rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia, and 10,600 in Libya, she added.
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