More than 11,600 children crossed the Central Mediterranean Sea to Italy without their parents or legal guardians between January and mid-September 2023, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports. This is an increase of 60 percent compared to the same period last year, where around 7,200 unaccompanied or separated children made the perilous crossing, UNICEF said in a statement on Friday.
Lampedusa, a small island in the south of Italy, is often the first port of call for people seeking asylum, safety and opportunities in Europe. The number of arrivals peaked this month, with 4,800 people arriving on a single day.
Children who undertake these harrowing journeys alone are often placed in overcrowded inflatable dinghies or shoddy wooden fishing boats unsuitable for poor weather conditions. Some are placed in the hold of the ship, some on iron barges – particularly dangerous for navigation. The lack of regionwide, coordinated and adequate search and rescue capacities and cooperation at sea on disembarkation compound the dangers children face when crossing.
War, conflict, violence and poverty are among the main drivers for children fleeing their home countries alone. Evidence shows that unaccompanied children are at risk of exploitation and abuse on every step of their journeys, with girls and children from sub-Saharan Africa the most likely to suffer abuse.
According to the International Organization for Migration, between June and August this year, at least 990 people including children died or disappeared as they attempted to cross the Central Mediterranean Sea, triple the number compared to the same period last summer when at least 334 people lost their lives.
Many shipwrecks leave no survivors, and many go unrecorded, making the true number of casualties likely much higher.
“The Mediterranean Sea has become a cemetery for children and their futures. The devastating toll on children seeking asylum and safety in Europe is a result of policy choices and a broken migration system,” said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe.
Children who survive their journeys are first held in centers known as hotspots before being transferred to reception facilities that are often closed and limit movement. More than 21,700 unaccompanied children across Italy are currently in such facilities, up from 17,700 a year ago, according to Italian authorities.
In line with international law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF calls on governments to provide safer and legal pathways for seeking asylum, ensure children are not held in closed facilities, strengthen national child protection systems to better protect children migrating, coordinate search and rescue operations, and ensure disembarkation to places of safety.
“The adoption of a Europe-wide response to supporting children and families seeking asylum and safety and a sustained increase in international aid to support countries faced by multiple crises are desperately needed to prevent more children suffering”, De Dominicis said.
In a related development on Thursday, the UN Security Council held a meeting to discuss the situation of migrants in the Mediterranean. The Council was briefed by officials from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration, who described a horrendous situation that is getting worse.
Ruven Menikdiwela, Director of the New York UNHCR Office said, as of September 24, more than 2,500 people, who attempted to cross the Mediterranean, were accounted as dead or missing, a two-thirds increase from the same period in 2022.
“Lives are also lost on land, away from public attention,” she said, adding that the journey across Africa to coastal points of departure remains one of the world’s most dangerous.
High departure rates in Tunisia result from the perception of insecurity among refugee communities, following incidents of racially-motivated attacks and hate speech, as well as collective expulsions from Libya and Algeria, she said.
While nearly 50,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with the UN agency in Libya, UNHCR is not authorized to access the disembarkation points. As such, many detained refugees are escorted to border areas and expelled to neighboring countries, mainly Egypt, without procedural safeguards.
“Libya is not a place of safety for the purposes of disembarkation, following rescue at sea,” she stressed, underscoring that any cooperation or assistance provided to Tripoli should uphold the human rights of refugees and migrants.
Menikdiwela reported that between January and August, more than 102,000 refugees and migrants attempted to cross the Central Mediterranean from Tunisia to Europe, up 260 percent compared to 2022. More than 45,000 made the same journey from Libya. Some 31,000 people were rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia and another 10,600 in Libya.
She said that departures from Algeria remain limited with almost 4,700 arrivals in Spain until August, an increase of 18 percent compared to 2022. In total, 186,000 people arrived from January to 24 September by sea in Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta, with more than 130,000 people arriving in Italy, constituting an increase of 83 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
Pär Liljert, Director of the IOM Office to the United Nations, said that between January and September, more than 187,000 people crossed the Mediterranean “in pursuit of a better future and the promise of safety”.
He reported that 2,093 deaths were recorded along the Central Mediterranean route between January and September, making this route the most dangerous worldwide. Liljert expressed concern over the rise of discrimination and xenophobia directed at migrants and refugees.
“While significant attention is dedicated to deaths at sea, the stories shared by migrants suggest that several tragedies may be going unnoticed, especially during the crossing of the Sahara Desert”, he added.
“As the world is experiencing higher rates of conflict, disasters and environmental degradation than at any time in the past three decades, compounded by glaring inequalities and increased poverty, we can expect more and more people to embark on perilous journeys,” Liljert said.
IOM recommends that the international community find ways to foster regular migration, enhance regular pathways for migrants who do not qualify for refugee status, ensure that the rights of those in irregular situations are respected, support national and regional efforts to prevent and resolve forced displacements, and increase search and rescue operations and capabilities.
“We must recognize that solutions to irregular migration cannot solely rely on preventing departures, but also on ensuring that we are effectively addressing the various drivers of migration in countries of origin, transit and, oftentimes, in countries of initial destination,” he added.
Liljert urged all States to ensure the dignity of those within their borders through a human rights-based approach that prioritizes lives.
Further information
Full text: Number of unaccompanied children crossing deadly Central Mediterranean Sea migration route to Italy increases by 60 per cent – UNICEF, UNICEF press release, published September 29, 2023
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/number-unaccompanied-children-crossing-deadly-central-mediterranean-sea-migration
Full text: Conflicts, Disasters Driving More Migrants to Risk Mediterranean Crossing, Briefers Warn Security Council Ahead of Libya Mandate Decision, UN Security Council, press release, published September 28, 2023
https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15427.doc.htm
Website: International Organization for Migration: Missing Migrants Project
https://missingmigrants.iom.int/