More than 10,000 migrants have died trying to reach Spain this year, an increase of more than 50% from 2023, according to the Spanish advocacy group’s annual report released this week.
The NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), in its Right to Life Monitoring 2024 Report, reports that 10,457 migrants died this year on their way to Spain via the Atlantic or Mediterranean Sea. He said he did. The victims included 1,538 children and adolescents and 421 women. The victims came from 28 countries, mostly in Africa, with some coming from as far away as Iraq and Pakistan.
“These numbers are evidence of serious deficiencies in our rescue and protection systems,” Helena Mareno, the group’s founder, said in a statement. “More than 10,400 deaths or missing people a year is an unacceptable tragedy.”
Walking Borders said the report said it was the “deadliest period on record, with an average daily death toll of 30 people a devastating figure”, with an average daily death toll of 18 in 2023. He said it was a person.
According to the report:
The Atlantic route remains the deadliest in the world, with 9,757 deaths. Tragedies are increasing, especially on the Mauritania route, which has established itself as a major departure point for the Canary Islands. The Algerian route in the Mediterranean is the second deadliest in our records, with 517 casualties. Up to 110 people lost their lives in the Strait of Gibraltar, and a further 73 lost their lives in the Alboran Passage. Additionally, 131 ships were lost, including all crew members.
Spain’s Interior Ministry announced earlier this month that as of December 15, 57,738 migrants had arrived in Spain by sea this year, a record high.
Walking Borders blames what it calls “the main causes of the increase in shipwrecks and casualties,” including “the omission of rescue duties, the prioritization of immigration control over the right to life, and the lack of sufficient resources.” externalization of national borders, inaction and arbitrariness in rescue operations, (and) the criminalization of social organization and the family.”
The group also cited the “extremely vulnerable situation” in which migrants are forced to “throw themselves into the sea in extremely precarious conditions.”
These include “violence, discrimination, racism, deportation and sexual violence” as well as being “forced to survive in extreme conditions” before leaving the country.
“The number of victims continues to grow, and the act of documenting the deaths or preserving the memory of the victims carries with it the threat of persecution and stigmatization,” the publication said, adding that “You can hear the cries from this report” of migrants who have lost their lives, he added. Confronted with their disappearances and deaths, they question their fate and seek justice and an end to impunity. ”
