Deadliest Year Of Migratory Crossings From Middle East And Northern Africa Since 2017
Last year, 3,800 people were killed whilst attempting their migratory journey from the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) towards Europe – making 2022 the most lethal year for those embarking upon this journey since 2017.
“This alarming death toll on migration routes within and from the MENA region demands immediate attention and concerted efforts to enhance the safety and protection of migrants,” said Othman Belbeisi, IOM MENA Regional Director.
These figures were released in a newly published report by the International Organisation for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project.
The MMP was founded in 2014 to document deaths and disappearances of people in the process of migration.
Collecting information is challenging, so the MMP knows that all figures are undercounted, yet data remains important because it shows how vast the problem in need of addressing is – without even claiming to know its full scope.
Data shows that since 2017, when 4,255 deaths were recorded, 2022’s 3,789 recorded deaths – an 11% surge from the previous year – is the closest figures have gotten to that devastating peak.
The MENA region accounted for more than half of the total 6,877 deaths recorded worldwide by the MMP.
In an exclusive interview, Lovin Malta spoke to a former trafficker who discussed the “transportation network” carrying so many people – and endangering so many lives – towards aspirations of European living.
Many of these deaths happened at sea. Data tracking travelling from MENA to Europe in 2022 showed that many were killed after having departed from Lebanon towards Greece and Italy.
At least 174 deaths were recorded following these attempts, which constituted nearly half of the overall death toll on the Eastern Mediterranean route last year.
These figures are expected not to be complete, as the remains of those who perished will not have been recovered. Amongst those who have been recovered, up to 84% remain unidentified, leaving families scrambling for answers.
This news is consistent with horrible findings from the first quarter of this year – that 2023 has been the deadliest year of Mediterranean crossings since 2017.
A significant proportion of the recorded MENA deaths occurred on land.
The North African routes, particularly those which require a potentially perilous Sahara Desert crossing, resulted in 203 recorded deaths, while an additional 825 people died on Middle Eastern land routes.
The majority of these were in Libya, followed by Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
“Our data shows that 92 per cent of people dying on this route remain unidentified,” said Koko Warner, Director of the Global Data Institute hosting the MMP.
“The tragic loss of life on dangerous migration routes highlights the importance of data and analysis in driving action.”
Though these numbers are already devastatingly staggering, they are not assumed to be anywhere near complete. Access to migratory land routes for civil society and international organisations remains dangerous, and limited.
“IOM urges increased international and regional cooperation as well as resources to address this humanitarian crisis and prevent further loss of lives, in line with Objective Eight of the Global Compact for Migration” concluded Belbeisi.
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