A landmark UN migration study published on Monday shows that 93 per cent of Africans making the journey to European countries along irregular routes, would do it again, despite facing often life-threatening danger.
A move by Italian lawmakers to impose fines of up to €1 million on vessels and organizations carrying out search and rescue operations off the country’s coastline, sparked a new warning on Tuesday from the UN that the measure risks deterring future lifesaving efforts in the Mediterranean.
Around 1,600 children were reported dead or missing between 2014 and 2018 – an average of almost one every day – but many more go unrecorded, a new UN report revealed on Friday.
A rescue operation on the Mediterranean concluded on Tuesday with confirmation that seven people drowned and 57 were rescued, following a shipwreck off the Greek island of Lesvos, the UN migration agency, IOM, said.
If countries help educate incoming migrants and refugees, they will no longer be viewed as a problem, but a valuable resource, said a 20-year-old from Côte d’Ivoire, speaking on behalf of young people, ahead of the adoption of the new UN Global Compact for Migration in Marrakech, Morocco. Kader Diabate made the voyage alone to Italy on one of the world’s most dangerous routes – through Niger and Libya, and across the Mediterranean Sea. He spoke to UN News’s Mustafa Al Gamal about his extraordinary journey.
Spain’s reported announcement that it will allow a boat to dock carrying hundreds of migrants and refugees that was originally turned away from Italy is a “generous display of solidarity”, the UN Refugee Agency said on Monday. UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley spoke with Daniel Johnson.
Social media companies, in particular Facebook, need to do more to "help explain the dangers" of embarking on migrant journeys in search of a better life.
