At least 8,565 people died on migration routes around the world in 2023, making it the deadliest year of the decade, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.
“The death toll in 2023 represents a tragic 20% increase compared to 2022, underscoring the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life,” the UN agency said in a statement. communicated.
Last year’s total death toll surpasses the previous record set in 2016, when 8,084 migrants died.
IOM stresses that safe and legal migration routes remain few, pushing hundreds of thousands of people each year to try their luck in dangerous conditions.
The Mediterranean crossing remains the deadliest route for migrants, with at least 3,129 deaths and disappearances recorded last year.
Just over half of deaths last year were due to drowning, 9% to car accidents and 7% to violence.
The IOM’s Missing Migrants project, created in 2014, is an open access database that records migrant deaths and disappearances.
Since its implementation, more than 63,000 cases have been recorded worldwide, but the real number is much higher.
As migrants are encouraged to use sometimes very isolated routes to escape the authorities, the collection of reliable data is all the more difficult.
“As we commemorate 10 years of the Missing Migrants Project, we first remember all those lives lost,” said IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels, quoted in the press release.
“Each of them is a terrible human tragedy that impacts families and communities for years,” he said.
“These horrific figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project also remind us that we must reaffirm our commitment to do more to ensure safe migration for all, so that in 10 years, people do not have to risk their lives in search of “a better future,” said the Deputy Director General of the IOM.