Politics

1 migrant dies for every 30 who survive Canary Island route: report

Rome, Dec 13 (EFE).- For every 30 migrants who survive the perilous journey from the West African coast to the Spanish Canary Islands, one dies, according to a report published on Monday by the Migrantes Foundation of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

The report contrasted the European Union’s approaches to Ukrainian refugees on one hand and those fleeing conflict and strife in Africa and the Middle East, and who are “equally in need of protection.”

“In 2022, Europe proved that it can take in more than 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees who have been granted temporary protection, without losing anything in terms of security and welfare,” it said.

Citing official data, the report said that the estimated number of migrants who went missing or died in the Mediterranean so far this year stood at 1,800 as of October, a 57% jump on the same period in 2021.

The figures in 2021 also saw an increase by 28% “in dead and missing migrants on the dangerous western Atlantic route to the Canary Islands: from an estimated 877 victims in 2020 to 1,126 in 2021.”

“In the last three years, in terms of deaths and missing persons, the route to the Canaries has proved more dangerous even than the central Mediterranean route in terms of the number of deaths missing in relation to arrivals,” it adds. EFE

ccg/aef/jt

Related Articles

Back to top button