UNICEF said Friday that at least 289
children are estimated to have died or disappeared this year
attempting to cross the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea
migration route from North Africa to Europe.
The UN agency said this equates to nearly 11 children dying or
disappearing every week.
Furthermore, UNICEF said that it estimates around 1,500 children
have died or gone missing while attempting the Central
Mediterranean Sea crossing since 2018.
This number accounts for one in five of the 8,274 people who
have died or gone missing on the route, according to IOM's
Missing Migrant Project records.
Many shipwrecks on the Central Mediterranean Sea crossing leave
no survivors or go unrecorded, making the true number of child
casualties practically impossible to verify and likely much
higher, the agency said.
UNICEF said it that estimates 11,600 children have arrived on
the shores of Italy from North Africa since January 2023, twice
as many as in the same period in 2022.
The majority of the children depart from Libya and Tunisia,
having already made dangerous journeys from countries across
Africa and the Middle East, it said.
"In attempts to find safety, reunite with family, and seek more
hopeful futures too many children are boarding boats on the
shores of the Mediterranean, only to lose their lives or go
missing on the way," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine
Russell.
"This is a clear sign that more must be done to create safe and
legal pathways for children to access asylum, while
strengthening efforts to rescue lives at sea. Ultimately, much
more must be done to address the root causes that make children
risk their lives in the first place."
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