+4,000 Have Died World-Wide Attempting to Migrate This Year
Quote:
More than 4,000 people have died world-wide so far this year while attempting to migrate, with the vast majority perishing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to a report released Monday by the International Organization for Migration.
The Geneva-based group said that 4,077 migrants are known to have died since the start of the year. Up to 3,072 of those deaths occurred on dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea, a fourfold increase compared with all of 2013. Since 2000, at least 40,000 have died around the world while attempting to migrate, said the IOM.
The real number is likely higher, said the IOM, because there is no formal system of monitoring migrant deaths. For instance, in the case of shipwrecks, many bodies are never recovered.
The plight of migrants gained greater visibility since more than 360 migrants, mostly Eritrean, lost their lives after a shipwreck off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa nearly one year ago.
The breakdown of law and order in Libya has thrown open the gateway for smugglers to move thousands of people through the country and load them onto ramshackle boats bound for Italy that are often barely seaworthy.
The Lampedusa tragedy sparked the establishment of large-scale sea patrols, mostly run by the Italian government, to pick up seaborne migrants. In the first eight months of this year, more than 112,000 migrants entered Italy, triple the amount for all of last year. Many of the migrants come from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Syria, Afghanistan and Egypt.
While the Italian sea patrols have saved many lives, boats are still capsizing on a regular basis. For instance, this summer, up to 500 migrants died while trying to reach Malta by sea. Survivors have told aid workers that smugglers deliberately rammed their boat when the migrants refused to board it. As many as 100 children were on board, according to aid organizations.
According to the IOM, Europe accounts for the largest numbers of reported deaths. Since 2000, over 22,000 migrants have died while attempting to reach Europe, half of the world-wide number of deaths reported. Since 1998, more than 6,000 migrants have died trying to cross the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
The huge flow of migrants has generated anti-immigration sentiment in Italy and other European countries, exacerbated by the economic crisis and high unemployment levels
speaks of the inequality in the world when people are willing to risk their lives to live somewhere else
perhaps if we really supported developing countries instead of crippling them with international debt, they would be rich enough for their own people to want to stay
Is it really THAT hard to ask for legal citizenship? Like is it really worth risking your life or getting yourself killed/arrested?
I just can't accept the fact that some people think this is okay.
Yikes that's really an insensitive thing to say. Yes it can be really hard for the lower classes and those in countries that are just not as liberal as our own. And yes in some people's eyes it IS worth it for what their view of freedom is.
Some places have to wait LIFETIMES to even get selected for possible citizenship here not to mention it can be seriously expensive.
OT: It takes forever to get a visa to move to another country. My dad had to wait 10+ years for the government to approve the rest of our family visas to the US. People shouldn't talk about issues they clearly know nothing about.
I don't understand why they do that? The things are as expensive as they are in Mexico mostly because they pay with the same divisa they get and I think it's not worth the risk to get killed by the migra or get drowned trying to cross the Bravo river.
I'm from Syria, and it has become much easier for anyone to escape to Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan and apply for humanitarian residence ... So I don't see the point of them doing that
I can apply for it in the UAE anytime I'll be just okay