Immigrant Council of Ireland Bulletin on Forced Migration in the Mediterranean
Over 3,500 people have lost their lives in 2016 crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe. That’s according to the Immigrant Council of Ireland, who today are releasing the first of their new fortnightly[EB1] round-ups of statistics on the forced migration crisis in the Mediterranean.
The statistics released by the Immigrant Council of Ireland include:
- 3,502 people have been reported dead / missing.
- At least 600 children have died trying to reach Europe this year.
- There have been 320,533 arrivals to Europe so far in 2016.
- Of this, 302,976 have arrived by sea, with 17,557 arriving by land.
- To date, Irish naval ships have participated in the rescue of over 12,500 migrants.
Commenting on the statistics, Brian Killoran, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council, said: “Since we passed the 3,000 death toll mark in late July of this year, a further 500 people have lost their lives trying to seek refuge in Europe. Of those, over 600 are children. This loss of life cannot continue at its current rate.
“We are repeating our call on all EU Governments to come up with a sustainable and humanitarian response to the crisis. Until we provide safe passage to those making this journey, men, women and children will continue to lose their lives.
“We are also asking the Irish public to not turn a blind eye to the crisis, and to make their voices heard and demand that the Irish and EU member state governments develop a human-rights based response to the crisis.”
ENDS