Violence and risky ways: record number of migrants killed on escape routes

Never before have so many deaths have been registered among migrants as last year. According to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 8,938 people worldwide were killed in escape routes worldwide.

The organization had already reported a record with 8,748 victims in the previous year. There were only more than 8,000 fatalities in 2016. According to IOM, 2,452 people died in the Mediterranean last year and thus less than in 2016, 2017 and 2023.

The surveys of IOM have been around since 2014. Since then, more than 74,000 migrants have been considered dead or missing. The organization assumes that the true number is even higher. Not all victims would be found and registered. The number of fatalities registered worldwide has been continuously increasing for five years.

At least ten percent of deaths have been due to violence since 2022, reports the IOM. Human smugglers and gangs would often harsh migrants to blackmail money. Others are taken up by authorities and captured in camps as in Libya under devastating conditions. More die in the attempt to reach the coasts of other countries with often hardly any seaworthy boats.

Definition of refugees – migrants

According to the IOM, migrants are all people who leave their place of residence – regardless of the reasons, how long or whether they do it voluntarily or involuntarily. Some apply for asylum because they have fled with war or persecution. According to the definition, refugees are also migrants, but not all migrants refugees.