More than 3,000 people died or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean and the Atlantic last year, hoping to reach Europe, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday, appealing for $163.5 million to assist and protect thousands of refugees and asylum seekers.
In the deadliest shipwreck recorded so far this year, at least 140 people have drowned after a vessel carrying around 200 migrants sank off the Senegalese coast, the UN migration agency confirmed on Thursday.
A spike in the number of refugees reaching Greek island reception centres is likely to worsen the situation in already “dangerously overcrowded” facilities there, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Six people died every day last year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe – “the world’s deadliest sea crossing” - the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday, citing ongoing political deadlock over sea rescue and disembarkation.
The challenge for political leaders attending a summit on migration hosted by France on Monday will be to give people options other than having to trust smugglers, the UN has said.
IOM, the UN migration agency, made the comments as representatives of Germany, Spain and Italy gathered in Paris, along with the leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya.
The African states are transit countries for those seeking to reach Europe, where more than 120,000 migrants have arrived so far by sea in 2017, according to IOM.