Nearly 8,600 people died on the move in 2023, a 20% increase from 2022, according to the online platform of the UN agency's Missing Migrants Project.
It details the global movement of people risking their lives to escape conflict, economic crisis, and climate change-related natural disasters such as droughts and floods. IOM says the findings clearly show that there are too few legal recourses for migrants.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people continue to make dangerous and illegal cross-border journeys.
death at sea
According to IOM data, just over half of the deaths last year were due to drowning, 9% were due to car accidents and 7% of deaths were victims of violence.
The Mediterranean crossing remains the deadliest route for migrants on record, with at least 3,129 people killed or missing in 2023. This is the highest death toll recorded since 2017.
Last year, an unprecedented number of migrant deaths were recorded in Africa (1,866) and Asia (2,138).
“In Africa, most of these deaths occurred on the route to the Sahara Desert and the Canary Islands,” the IOM said. “Asia recorded hundreds of deaths of Afghan and Rohingya refugees fleeing their countries of origin last year.”
Aid to Syrian refugees shrinks as needs grow
The latest United Nations-led regional response plan warns that the world is failing Syrian refugees and the communities that host them, as the brutal war in their homeland enters its 14th year.
At a time of heightened conflict in Gaza and instability for the entire region, refugee needs are increasing while funding to support refugees and their hosts is decreasing.
More than 6.1 million Syrian refugees and 6.8 million host community members have urgent needs, according to the 2024 Regional Strategy Brief (3RP), the leading regional platform for supporting Syrian refugees and their host communities. The situation continues to be unsatisfactory.
3RP partners estimate that $4.9 billion will be needed in 2024 to address the priority needs of vulnerable people and institutions affected by the Syrian crisis in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkiye.
headwinds double
However, the mounting challenges of inflation, soaring food and fuel prices, currency devaluation, and high unemployment rates, especially among women and youth, are exacerbated by Gaza's humanitarian crisis and the knock-on effects of climate change.
3RP funding declined from an average of over 60 percent from 2015 to 2018 to just 40 percent from 2020 to 2022. Last year, only 30 percent of the needed funding was received.
The plan warns that this means people are being left behind rather than supported.
Ayman Gharaibeh, UNHCR's Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “Thirteen years later, with no political solution in sight, refugees from Syria remain in real need of international protection and asylum. ” he emphasized.
“As funding dwindles, millions of refugees and their hosts are pushed further into poverty and exposed to multiple protection risks,” he added.
“The international community must stay the course by providing the most vulnerable people with the level of support and solutions they need. We must avoid a situation where despair becomes entrenched.”
In Jordan, declining funding is putting services to the most vulnerable at risk. The city of Turkiye is grappling with increased vulnerability from last year's earthquake and financial pressures.
A lack of funding leaves 450,000 refugee children and young people without access to education. Health disparities, particularly in vaccination, pose a threat to refugees, while 346,000 vulnerable households will lose food aid.
Rights experts regret UK Court of Appeal decision against Shamima Begum
Independent rights experts at the United Nations have expressed deep concern following the UK Court of Appeal's decision late last month in the case of Shamima Begum, who traveled to Syria at the age of 15 to marry an ISIL fighter.
UN experts appointed by the Human Rights Council said Ms Begum “remains deprived of her citizenship, vulnerable and denied assistance and protection as a potential victim of human trafficking”. Stated.
The experts urged the UK government to take urgent steps to provide support and protection to Ms Begum, including repatriation, and to review and reconsider the decision by the then Home Secretary to strip her of her citizenship. I asked for it.
The appeals court rejected all arguments presented by Ms. Begum's lawyers, saying the government's stated national security concerns outweighed consideration of the possibility of human trafficking. She remains a prisoner in a camp in northern Syria, where she is now stateless and who she claims has been brainwashed by a terrorist group.
duty of protection
“Protection for victims of trafficking and those at risk of trafficking, especially children, must be respected to be meaningful,” the UN expert said.
They found that the Special Immigration Appeals Board had determined that before Ms Begum left the UK as a vulnerable child, the state had considered possible negligence and the state's natural duty to protect and prevent serious human rights abuses. It noted that it had identified potential violations, adding: “These circumstances were never appropriate.” investigated”.
“There is a credible suspicion that Ms. Begum was recruited for the purpose of sexual exploitation, transported and then harbored,” the experts said. “Human trafficking is an international crime and a form of modern slavery.”
They argue that under international, European and UK law, “when the victim of human trafficking is a child, presumed issues such as consent, voluntariness, use of force, deception, coercion, etc. are irrelevant.'' There is,” he said.
The experts, who do not receive a salary for their work and operate strictly in an independent capacity, said the court's ruling effectively rendered Ms Begum stateless, a violation of international law. .
“Given the continuing serious risk of irreparable harm, we have asked the British authorities to take steps to ensure the protection of Ms Begum and are currently repatriating women and children from north-east Syria. We urge them to follow the lead of many other repatriating governments,” the experts said.