2014 is the deadliest year on record for migrants, registering double last year’s total. Nearly 5,000 migrants lost their lives this year at sea or in remote deserts or mountains, according to IOM. Even more disturbingly, the number of migrants dying on dangerous journeys in the hope of finding better lives for themselves and their families is rising.
It was only two weeks ago that we heard the appalling news that a boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants had sunk off at Yemen’s western coast, killing 70 people. Tens of thousands attempt to cross the Red Sea into Yemen every year, often in rickety, overcrowded vessels. Many hundreds have died making this journey.
Our condolences for the families who lost their lives in this recent tragedy.
We also remember with horror the shipwreck in October 2013 when an overcrowded boat carrying asylum seekers from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana capsized within sight of Italy’s shores. 359 out of 500 passengers perished, having travelled on a vessel with a maximum stated capacity of 35Dreams of a better life away from poverty and war died in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
Migrants seek jobs and better livelihoods in richer places like Western Europe and the Middle East. Instead, they fall in the hands of unscrupulous people like smugglers and, too often, never reach the Promised Land.
Urgent action is needed to save the lives of migrants and would-be migrants and stop smugglers from exploiting their desperation to extort huge sums of money. And that also means dealing with the crises and economic privation which is promoting migration in the first place.