UN: Migrant Deaths in the MENA Region Highest Since 2017

Facts

• On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that 2022 was the deadliest year for migrants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) since 2017. About 3,789 people died along sea and land routes, including crossings in the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea.¹
• According to the UN agency, the death toll was 11% higher than in 2021 and the highest since the 4,255 documented in 2017, adding that it could be higher because insufficient data may have failed to record many further deaths.²
• The IOM's Missing Migrants Project, which tracks deaths of migrants in Europe, documented more than 1,025 deaths on land routes to the MENA region. The remainder of the deaths occurred at sea, particularly in the central Mediterranean Sea.³
• The data shows an increase in deadly incidents on boats traveling to Greece and Italy from Lebanon, with "as many as 84% of those who perished along sea routes" still remaining "unidentified."¹
• The IOM also reported that the region accounted for more than half of the total 6,877 deaths the project recorded worldwide in 2022.⁴
• According to the agency, the highest number of deaths on land routes in the region last year was recorded in war-torn Yemen, where it stated that "targeted violence against migrants has intensified."⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³VOA, ⁴News, and ⁵Associated Press.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by IOM. People are dying in large numbers on migration routes in the MENA region as they seek to escape violence, war, hunger, extreme poverty, climate change, and other natural disasters. The international community, especially the EU, must stop pretending that migrants no longer exist or that their tragedies no longer matter, and set up a mechanism to end this humanitarian crisis and prevent further loss of lives.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Consilium. Even though the migrants are not European citizens, the EU is boosting rescue operations, offering shelter for migrants already on their territory, fighting migrant smuggling in the Mediterranean, and assisting African authorities to better control and address irregular migration. While an escalating migration crisis is testing the EU's commitment to human rights and open borders, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency has already saved more than 629K people since 2015.

Predictions