UN: Number of dead, missing migrants in Mediterranean tripled this summer

The number of migrants who died or went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean this summer has been three times the number seen in the same period last year, the UN has said.

Between June and August, at least 990 people died or went missing in the dangerous central Mediterranean route between northern Africa and Europe, compared to 334 deaths over the same months in 2022, the UN's children's agency UNICEF said on Friday.

The agency gave no separate number for children dying during the crossings, but said that 11,600 unaccompanied minors had been among the migrants trying to get to Italy on makeshift vessels between January and September, up 60 percent from the first nine months of 2022.

"The Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and their future," UNICEF coordinator Regina De Dominicis said.

"The tragic toll of children dying in search of asylum and security in Europe is the result of political choices and a defective migration system," she said.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2,500 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean between January 1 and September 24, 50 percent more than in the same period last year.

Around 186,000 migrants arrived

The UN refugee agency said on Thursday that some 186,000 migrants and refugees arrived in southern Europe so far this year, the vast majority in Italy.

The UNHCR estimates that over 102,000 refugees and migrants from Tunisia — a 260 percent increase from last year— and over 45,000 from Libya tried to cross the central Mediterranean to Europe between January and August, Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the UN Security Council.

Some 31,000 people were rescued at sea or intercepted, and disembarked in Tunisia while 10,600 disembarked in Libya, Menikdiwela said.

The majority of migrants and refugees who made it to southern Europe arrived in Italy— over 130,000, an increase of 83 percent compared to the same period in 2022, she said. The others landed in Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta.

The UNHCR figures she quoted were similar to those presented by Par Liljert, director of the International Office for Migration’s office to the United Nations.

He highlighted “the dire conditions facing migrants and refugees” seeking to cross the Mediterranean.

“Recent IOM data demonstrates that from January to September 2023, more than 187,000 individuals crossed the Mediterranean in pursuit of a better future and the promise of safety,” Liljert told the council. “Tragically, during this same period, IOM recorded 2,778 deaths with 2,093 of them occurring along the treacherous central Mediterranean route,” which is the most dangerous.

Yet, despite its clear dangers, in 2023 there has been an increase in arrivals to Greece along this route of over 300 percent, while the number of arrivals in Spain has remained steady, primarily through the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands as compared to the numbers recorded at the same time last year,” he said.