On Monday 3 September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) published a new report which expresses alarm at the rise in the number of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea, a sea crossing that has become “deadlier then ever”.
The report (entitled “Desperate Journeys”) shows that so far this year over 1,600 people have died or disappeared in their attempt to reach Europe, the organisation states in a press release. Although the total number of people arriving in Europe has fallen, the death rate has considerably increased, especially for those crossing the Mediterranean Sea. In the Central Mediterranean, one person died or went missing out of every 18 crossing to Europe between January and July 2018, compared with one death for every 42 people who crossed the sea during the same period in 2017.
The HCR, together with the IMO, has called for a “predictable, regional approach for the rescue and disembarkation of people in distress in the Mediterranean Sea”. It also calls on the EU to “increase access to safe and legal pathways for refugees, including by increasing resettlement places and removing obstacles to family reunification – helping to provide alternatives to potentially deadly journeys”.
When asked about the content of the report, the Commission underlined that its “first priority” was saving lives and that it had already produced “visible results”. Although the Commission deplores these deaths, it underlines that it is not the European politicians who are responsible but the networks of smugglers who place people in danger by making them do the sea crossing. Since 2015, measures set in place by the EU have saved over 630,000 lives, said Tove Ernst. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)