This is the deadliest year of the decade on the world’s migration routes. At least 8,565 migrants died in 2023, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday March 6. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea remains the deadliest route, with at least 3,129 deaths or disappearances recorded last year.
“The death toll in 2023 represents a tragic 20% increase compared to 2022, underscoring the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life,” the UN agency said in a statement. communicated. It exceeds the previous highest figure set in 2016, when 8,084 migrants died on the roads returning from exile.
More than half of deaths are due to drowning
IOM stresses that safe and legal migration routes remain few, pushing hundreds of thousands of people each year to try their luck in dangerous conditions. Just over half of deaths last year were due to drowning; 9%, to car accidents; 7%, to acts of violence.
“As we celebrate ten years of the Missing Migrants Project, we first remember all those lives lost,” said IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels, quoted in the press release. Each of them is a terrible human tragedy, one that impacts families and communities for years. »
The IOM’s Missing Migrants project, created in 2014, is an open access database that records migrant deaths and disappearances. Since its implementation, more than 63,000 cases have been recorded worldwide, but the real number is much higher. As migrants are encouraged to use sometimes very isolated routes to escape the authorities, the collection of reliable data is all the more difficult.
“These horrific figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project also remind us that we must reaffirm our commitment to do more to ensure safe migration for all, so that ten years from now people will not have to risk their lives in search of a better future,” said the IOM Deputy Director General.
