Migrant arrivals to Europe lower but deaths remain high

Of the 93,000 people who entered Europe irregularly last year, roughly 92% did so via the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea as well as through the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, often on unseaworthy boats.

The number of migrants and asylum-seekers who reached Europe in 2020 is the lowest it has been in the past decade, according to a report released Friday by the United Nations migration agency. But deaths and disappearances on sea routes remain alarmingly high with only a small fraction of bodies recovered and victims identified.

Migrants walk to a gate in the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents to request for asylum in El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 14, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez (REUTERS)

Of the 93,000 people who entered Europe irregularly last year, roughly 92% did so via the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea as well as through the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, often on unseaworthy boats.

Arrivals in the Canaries, considered part of the Schengen area, increased by 750% last year following tougher border controls and interceptions on the Mediterranean by North African countries.

The sea routes are lethal. The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project has confirmed the death or disappearances of at least 2,300 people last year. This number is higher than in 2019 when 2,095 victims were recorded and slightly lower than in 2018 which had 2,344.

The Central Mediterranean north of Libya saw 984 people perish in 2020. Meanwhile, on the Atlantic route to the Canaries at least 849 victims were verified — more than four times as many as in any previous year, according to the report, “Maritime Migration to Europe.”

But the organization admits its data is incomplete. So-called “invisible shipwrecks,” when entire boats disappear and leave no survivors, are especially concerning, the report said.

In 2020 there were at least 19 cases of invisible shipwrecks in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, with 571 people reported missing, according to IOM data requested by the AP.

“Such cases are extremely difficult to detect, let alone verify, and are yet another indication that the true number of deaths on maritime routes to Europe is far higher than indicated by the available data,” the report said.