More than 11,600 unaccompanied children have crossed the Central Mediterranean to Italy so far this year the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, an increase of 60 per cent compared with last year. The number of arrivals peaked this month on small island of Lampedusa off Italy’s southern coast, with 4,800 people arriving on … Read moreMediterranean ‘becoming a cemetery for children and their futures’
The International Organization for Migration (IOM); the UN refugee agency, UNCHR; and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also called for coordinated search and rescue mechanisms. The tragedy occurred between Thursday 3 August and Friday 4 August, and to date, only four survivors have been rescued – all by a merchant vessel. The survivors, brought … Read moreSave lives, UN agencies appeal, after yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean
A pregnant woman and a young child died when two boats carrying scores of migrants sank in rough seas off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday, according to media reports. The boats had reportedly departed from Sfax, Tunisia, and many of the passengers were believed to be from sub-Saharan African countries. In a statement … Read moreUNICEF laments deaths of pregnant mother and toddler in Mediterranean Sea shipwreck
The figure is equivalent to about 11 children dying each week, “far beyond what we hear in news headlines,” Vera Knaus, the agency’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement, told journalists attending the biweekly UN humanitarian briefing in Geneva. “We cannot continue to ignore what is happening – stand by silently when nearly 300 children … Read moreWorld ‘wilfully ignoring’ child deaths during dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings
Duty to rescue people in distress In a joint statement, refugee agency UNHCR and migration agency IOM, said that the duty to rescue people in distress at sea without delay was a “fundamental” rule of the international maritime law. They underscored that the current approach to Mediterranean Sea crossings – one of the world’s most … Read moreMediterranean migrant shipwreck: Swift action needed to prevent new tragedy
IOM’s Missing Migrants Project documented 441 deaths during this period, though the true toll is likely to be higher. Investigations continue into several reports of so-called invisible shipwrecks – cases where boats are reported missing but there are no records of survivors or search and rescue (SAR) operations. The fates of more than 300 … Read moreCentral Mediterranean: Deadliest quarter for migrant deaths in six years