The Mediterranean claimed the lives of more than 2,200 migrants in 2024. This is the reason why the situation could be worse this year
Last year, more than 2,200 people died or went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. The United Nations says. It is successful with more European countries far-right policies aimed at preventing migrantsexperts warn that more lives could be lost in 2025 without real change.
While the New Year’s celebrations around the world were ringing, terrible news came from the Mediterranean Sea: A small boat from Libya sank Only seven survived, including an eight-year-old child with his mother, among more than 20 people missing near the Italian island of Lampedusa.
It’s a story all too common in the region, where countless boats carrying migrants attempt to cross the waters to Europe. Many never complete their journey. Around 1,700 people died or went missing in 2024 along the central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy and Malta.
The deaths come a year after mounting pressure on civilian lifeboats in the Mediterranean and an attempt by Italy’s far-right government. sending asylum seekers to Albania.
Michael Gordon, a researcher at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ont., said non-governmental organizations that run search and rescue operations have become “easy scapegoats” for authorities frustrated by the influx of migrants.
“The result of this criminalization (is) … there are fewer assets to help migrants in distress at sea. And as a result, people will continue to die,” he told CBC News.
more than 31 thousand migrants died or went missing In the Mediterranean since 2014, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The death toll in 2024 includes “hundreds of children, representing a fifth of all people migrating through the Mediterranean.” Europe, he said statement last week. “Most are fleeing violent conflict and poverty.”
‘Widespread criminalization’ of civilian lifeboats
Experts and human rights groups say growing anti-immigration sentiment is making these crossings more dangerous.
In 2023, Italy made it illegal for search-and-rescue NGOs to carry out more than one rescue per trip, meaning vessels would have to ignore any other distress calls they receive or risk hefty fines and the detention of their vessels.
In November, the German non-governmental organization Sea-Watch appealed criminal complaint against Italian authorities in connection with a shipwreck in September that killed 21 people, alleging that he alerted the Italian coastguard to a ship in distress but that a rescue vessel was not dispatched for two days.
Italian authorities also regularly designate remote ports for NGO rescue ships. Last month, the international rescue organization SOS Méditerranée shared on social media that is forced to travel It traveled more than 1,600 kilometers over several days to bring the 162 survivors to safety after Italian authorities ignored pleas for a closer port of entry.
“We have been sanctioned for fulfilling our legal duty to save lives,” said Juan Matias Gil, a representative of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders. statement lifeboat after a 60-day detention order was issued in August.
Gordon, a researcher with Wilfrid Laurier University’s Center for International Migration Research, said this “broad criminalization” of civilian rescue operations is putting lives needlessly at risk.
“I think it also has a lot to do with the rise of far-right governments in Europe.”
The number of migrants in Italy has decreased dramatically
The politics of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was elected in 2022 on an anti-immigration platform, paid off for her government in 2024. Just over 66,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat last year, nearly 60 percent less than the 157,000. Those arriving in the country in 2023 This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the IOM, the number of recorded deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean Sea – already a minimum estimate because many boats disappear without a trace during the crossing – fell by about 28 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.
“Just because we have fewer arrivals doesn’t mean we have fewer risks,” Nicola Dell’Arciprete, the country coordinator for UNICEF’s migration and refugee response in Italy, told CBC News.
Dell’Arciprete has worked with children fleeing war, extreme poverty or political upheaval. Many come without parents or guardians.
“They really do run from nightmares,” he said. The factors that push people to Europe do not actually change.”
Minimizing migrant deaths requires more investment in reception centers, contingency plans for periods of high arrivals, safer and legal routes for immigration and enhanced search and rescue operations, Dell’Arciprete said, adding that the question is “whether the political will is there.” act along these lines”.
This year, European countries will assess their own rules to plan the implementation of the new rules European Union Pact on Asylum and Migration. The pact, the first update to Europe’s asylum laws in two decades, was agreed in 2024 but will not be fully implemented until 2026.
EU pays countries for migrant control
Italy and the EU have focused on countries of origin to control migrants. The EU provided tens of millions of euros in aid Tunisia in 2023 Strengthen border controls and stop migrant boats from leaving its shores, and it a 7.4 billion euro contract ($11 billion Cdn) to strengthen “stability” in Egypt with a focus on migration control.
Meloni played a key role in securing the Tunisia deal, which was justified by a reduction in migrant arrivals in 2024, and Italy’s similar deal with Libya in 2017.
Human rights groups say migrants found at sea are being returned to Libya, subjecting them to torture and violence in arbitrary detention.
Nevertheless, Italy’s immigration policy has received praise from other European leaders, such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. appreciated in September Italy’s “beautiful progress”.
Italy’s latest tactic to cut back on migrants backfired last fall, when Meloni struck a deal with Albania that would send up to 36,000 asylum seekers each year directly to an EU country to await deportation, only for Italian courts to refuse. confirm the resettlement of migrants.
Meloni pledged in December to continue the project, but the plan has been stalled over disagreements over what constitutes a safe country.
Experts say that without meaningful change, tragedies will continue in the Mediterranean Sea.
“Until we strengthen search and rescue operations, until we create safe and legal pathways for children to get to Europe, we will see more people die,” Dell’Arciprete said. “And that’s a simple fact.”
At least 59 migrants died when a boat with 200 people in it capsized off the coast of Italy. Most of the dead were children. The accident has again put the issue of irregular and dangerous migrant crossings into the spotlight.
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