The United Nations announced Friday, July 14, that some 289 children have died in the first six months of 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, a number that is rising sharply.
That number is double what it was in the first six months of 2022, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, and called for safe humanitarian corridors to allow children to find sanctuary in Europe.
sequel after announcement
Mokhtar, 25, Mascara, Algeria: “I tried twice to cross the Mediterranean”
Double the number of children who lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.UNICEF Chief of Migration and Displaced Persons Verena Knauss. “We estimate that in the first six months of this year, 11,600 children crossed, which is also double compared to the same period in 2022.”I explained.
World leaders must act urgently.
In the first three months of 2023, 3,300 transit children — 71% of the total number — were unaccompanied or separated from their families, according to UNICEF. This figure is three times higher compared to the same period in the previous year.
Migrant smugglers an act of desperation: a successful crossing earns 100,000 euros
These children need to know that they are not alone. Leaders around the world must act urgently.”Verena Knauss argued.
More than 600 people died in a shipwreck last June
Members of the European Parliament on Thursday called for the development of a “Reliable and permanent search and rescue strategy” Migrants in the Mediterranean, after a shipwreck in mid-June off the Greek coast, which could have claimed more than 600 lives.
Migrant shipwreck in Greece: a rescuer tells of receiving survivors in Kalamata
An old and overloaded ship from Libya sank off the coast of Greece on the night of 13 to 14 June. Only 104 of the exiles were rescued while the boat was carrying about 750 people, according to MEPs. 82 bodies are recovered but the other castaways are presumed dead.
