International Organization for Migration warns of the increasing number who immigrate to Europe as well the death toll of the immigrants.

Edited by | Hugh Gey

World CJ News section

12 April 2023

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Three times more people sought to enter the European Union via the Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023 than last year, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) said, as the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration described the period. It is the first quarter with the most deaths recorded since 2017.

Frontex reported that the first quarter saw a total of 54,000 illegal crossings into the European Union by all routes, a fifth more than the number recorded in 2022.

The agency said in a statement:
“The route through the Mediterranean Sea represents more than half of the illegal crossings into the European Union.” The statement added that nearly 28,000 people arrived this way from the beginning of the year until the end of March, which is more than three times the number registered in the same period in 2022.

added:
"Smuggling groups and organized crime took advantage of the good weather and political turmoil in some countries of departure to try to smuggle as many migrants as possible across the Mediterranean from the coasts of Tunisia and Libya."

On Tuesday, Italy's right-wing government declared a state of emergency over migration following a "sharp rise" in arrivals across the Mediterranean, a move that would allow it to turn back unwanted migrants faster.

Rome has asked the European Union to do more to stop migration by sea, the latest example of how migration has returned to the top of the EU's political agenda as international transport rebounded last year after a decline due to the Covid pandemic.

The European Agency stated earlier that 330,000 people crossed illegally by all roads last year, the highest number recorded since 2016, and the increasing numbers caused the emergence of more stringent anti-immigration rhetoric in European Union countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria.

The United Nations' International Organization for Migration said it had documented the death of 411 migrants on the central Mediterranean route between January and March, making it the first quarter with the highest number of deaths in six years.

The director of the organization, Antonio Vitorino, said:
"The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean is unbearable," he called on state authorities to conduct more search and rescue operations.

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