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SO SAD: 8,468 People D!e While Trying To Get To Europe
Over the previous four years, more than 8,400 migrants trying to reach Europe have drowned at sea, a charity reported on Tuesday.
According to a survey by Save the Children, since 2019 there have been about 500,000 attempts to cross the Mediterranean to Europe or those who have already done so.
The charity added that 8,468 of those individuals perished or disappeared in the Mediterranean.
Based on data analysis from the U.N. agency for refugees, the charity claimed that deaths at European borders were in part attributable to “the increasing trend of European governments forcibly, illegally, and often violently stopping refugees from entering their territory and even abducting and expelling those who have arrived.”
In light of this, the U.N. refugee agency issued a warning in 2021 that “asylum was under attack at Europe’s borders” and that pushbacks were being “carried out in a violent and evidently systematic way.” This warning was mentioned in the 40-page report.
The article included pushback of migrants trying to cross into Italy from Libya and Tunisia, Greece from Turkey, and Spain from Morocco.
Pushbacks are prohibited by both international and EU law because they violate both the right to apply for asylum as well as the principle that no one should be returned to a place where they would be subjected to torture, persecution, or other grave dangers.
The organization alleged that European countries treated Middle Eastern and African migrants as well as those who fled Ukraine because of the war with “double standards.”
According to Save the Children, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, nearly 8 million migrants from that nation have been permitted entry into Europe, with 40% of them being children.
Human traffickers have benefited from the upheaval in Libya by moving migrants through the country’s vast borders with six other nations. After being jammed into subpar rubber boats and other vessels, the refugees set off on dangerous sea trips.
Meanwhile, in recent years, European countries have put pressure on Libya’s coast guard and government to detain and capture migrants trying to reach their beaches.
More than 24,680 people were detained and transferred back to Libya, where they were held in facilities that were rife with abuse, according to the U.N. migration agency.
