the migratory crisis in the Mediterranean registers the highest mortality in six years

First modification: 04/13/2023 – 00:38

Hundreds of people died at sea trying to reach Europe between January and March this year. On Wednesday, April 12, the UN warned that the first quarter of 2023 was the deadliest since 2017 for migrants crossing the Mediterranean: at least 441 people lost their lives.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) — which many migrant rights groups accuse of playing a role in the European Union’s policy of externalizing borders — further explained that those 441 deaths were an understatement.

“With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear these deaths have normalized,” the organization warned.

“During the Easter weekend, 3,000 migrants arrived in Italy, bringing the total number of arrivals since the beginning of the year to 31,192 people,” the IOM said. The UN agency stressed that delays in search and rescue (SAR) operations have been a determining factor in at least six incidents since the beginning of the year, which have killed at least 127 of the 441 people killed.

“The complete lack of response during a seventh rescue operation cost the lives of at least 73 migrants” included in this same count, the IOM reported in a statement, adding that search and rescue efforts by non-governmental organizations have diminished. significantly in recent months.

“The continuing humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable”

The UN agency also has a project called “Missing Migrants” which investigates various cases of missing boats where there are no traces of survivors, remains, and no search and rescue operations have been carried out. Some 300 people aboard these boats are still missing, according to the organization.

“Saving lives at sea is a legal obligation of States,” said Antonio Vitorino, head of the IOM.

“We need proactive coordination of States in search and rescue efforts. Guided by the spirit of shared responsibility and solidarity, we call on States to work together and strive to reduce loss of life along migration routes.” he added.

Vitorino stated that “the persistent humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is intolerable.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — who took office in October last year vowing to end illegal migration — declared a state of emergency for six months on Tuesday night, with an additional five million euros to deal with. to the situation.

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According to Meloni, this will allow “a more effective and timely response” to the arrival of migrants. But his critics say that the measure, usually used for natural catastrophes, hides a lack of a clear strategy on the migration crisis.

Some crossings in constant increase; the Tunisian coast, especially affected

For its part, the European Border Agency, Frontex, estimated that the number of border crossings in the central Mediterranean reached almost 28,000 in the first quarter of 2023three times more than in the same period in 2022. The migrants who transit this route come mainly from the Ivory Coast, Guinea and Pakistan.

On Tuesday, in Tunis, off the coast of Sfax, “72 migrants were rescued and ten bodies recovered after the ship sank,” National Guard spokesman Houssem Jebabli told the Agence France-Presse news agency. . In total, 76 migrants were saved, including only four Tunisians.

In addition to the ten dead, “between 20 and 30” sub-Saharan migrants are missing after the shipwreck off the coast of Sfax, Faouzi Masmoudi, spokesman for the local court investigating the incident, told AFP.

On the other hand, 27 sub-Saharan migrants died or are missing after two other shipwrecks that occurred on Friday and Saturday off the Tunisian coast.

At the end of March, the bodies of another 29 people – also sub-Saharan – were recovered after three different shipwrecks off the coast of this North African country.

Tunisia, whose coastline is less than 150 kilometers from the Italian island of Lampedusa, regularly registers attempts to leave for Italy by migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries. This exodus intensified after a violent speech delivered on February 21 by the Tunisian president, Kaïs Saied, in which he accused sub-Saharan migrants of wanting to “change the demographic landscape of Tunisia.”

On Friday, the national guard announced that it had rescued or intercepted “14,406 people, of whom 13,138 came from sub-Saharan Africa and the rest were Tunisians” during the first three months of the year. A figure that is five times higher than that registered in the same period of 2022.

AFP