Sayeed Muhammad: The UN refugee agency says human traffickers are taking greater risks to ferry their human cargo toward Europe as Libya’s coastguard intercepts more and more boats carrying migrants.
The development increases the likelihood that those on board may die during the Mediterranean journeys, reports AP referring to one of the key findings from the latest UNHCR report about efforts to reach Europe.
Released yesterday, the report, styled “Desperate Journeys,” says that even though the number of crossings and deaths has plunged compared to recent years, the voyage is more deadly in percentage terms for those who venture across.
According to the report, 2,276 people died last year while trying to cross, or one death for every 42 arrivals. This year, it’s 1,095 deaths, or one out of every 18 arrivals. In June alone, the proportion hit one death for every seven arrivals.
On the Central Mediterranean route so far this year, there have been 10 separate incidents of 50 or more people dying — most after departing from Libya. Seven of those incidents have been since June alone, the UNHCR says.
“The reason the traffic has become more deadly is that the traffickers are taking more risk, because there is more surveillance exercised by the Libyan coast guards,” said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s special envoy for the central Mediterranean. “They are trying to cut the costs: It costs them more to keep those people here longer in their warehouses, under captivity.”
Libyan authorities intercepted or rescued 18,400 people between August last year and July this year — a 38% hike from the same period of 2016 and 2017. Arrivals by sea from Libya to Europe dipped to 82% in those comparable periods, to 30,800 in the more recent one.
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