A total of 6,618 people died in 2023 trying to reach the Spanish coasts, an average of 18 each daya figure that almost triples that recorded in 2022, when 2,390 migrants lost their lives, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
(Read also: Best countries to spend retirement in 2024: Colombia, in a good position, according to ranking).
This organization presented this Tuesday in Madrid the new edition of its report 'Monitoring the Right to Life', which places 2023 as the “deadliest” year since records beganin 2007.
Among the people who lost their lives in their attempt to reach Spain There were 363 women and 384 boys and girls.
The Ceuta Civil Guard helps migrants, mostly minors, who arrive by sea.
Of the total number of deaths, the vast majority, 6,007, died on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, while 434 people lost their lives on the Algerian route to the western Mediterranean; 147 migrants, in the Strait of Gibraltar and 30, on the Alborán route (the westernmost part of the Mediterranean).
These data correspond to a year in which the precarious boats that arrived to the Canary Islands (Atlantic) brought 39,910 people, which skyrocketed the number of immigrants who tried to enter Spain irregularly to 56,85282.1% more than the previous year, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Caminando Fronteras regularly publishes the numbers of deaths on the voyages heading towards Spain, which they obtain through the alerts they receive from the sea and with information from family members and migrant communities.
Last year there were 84 boats that disappeared with all the people on board. The months of October (2,370), June (1,197) and November (1,023) concentrate the majority of victims.
Juan Francisco Valle, the civil guard who rescued a baby in Ceuta.
Among the deceased are people from 17 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Comoros Islands, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen .
Longer and more dangerous routes to the Canary Islands
Today's data once again places the Canary Islands route, across the Atlantic, as “the most lethal migratory region in the world” and they focus on the recent increase in departures from more distant places, such as Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.
The arrival of more boats from Senegal to the Canary Islands starting in June is attributed to the great social and political instability in the country, which translated in which more than half of the fatalities recorded on their way to the Canary Islands (3,176) were traveling from this country.
(Keep reading: Spain decrees the mandatory use of masks in hospitals).
Behind Senegal, The migrants who died in 2023 in their attempt to reach the Canary archipelago were traveling from the coast between Agadir (Morocco) and Dakhla (Western Sahara), is the case of 1,418 of the fatalities; from Gambia, from where 1,018 of the deceased were traveling, and Mauritania, from where 395 of the people who lost their lives left.
The omission of the duty to help as a practice of immigration control
According to the research of Caminando Fronteras, In many of the documented tragedies, search and rescue means were not activated or, if it was done, it was with a “significant delay” that put people's lives at risk.
Besides, Often the specialized services only intervened at the time of the rescue of the people on the boatbut they did not continue with the search for possible survivors or the recovery of bodies.
The coordinator and author of the report, Helena Maleno, denounced that “the omission of the duty of relief has been established on the borders of the Spanish State as a practice of immigration control.”
According to his analysis, Agreements with countries of origin like Morocco are based on the externalization of borderswhich leads Spain to “pressure” for the rescues to be carried out by these other States, even when they do not have sufficient means.
Spain commits to resettle up to 1,200 refugees in
2024
The Spanish Government approved this Tuesday the National Refugee Resettlement Program (PNR) by 2024, with which it is committed to hosting up to 1,200 refugees from countries affected by conflicts and serious humanitarian crises.
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported in a note that the previous PNR, which also had a maximum quota of 1,200 people to resettle during 2023, 90% was fulfilled with people mainly from Turkey, Lebanon and Costa Rica.
Thanks to this program, protection is offered to refugees from countries affected by conflicts and serious humanitarian crises and Spain's commitment to the first host countries is reinforced.
Inclusion pointed out that the need to resort to this instrument has become more urgent in recent years due to events such as the crisis in Afghanistan and Ukraine, which add to the need to provide protection to people from Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Niger, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt. The commitment of the Government of Spain to this program is included in the global resettlement priorities identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union.
The Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration is in charge of offering reception within the framework of the International Protection Reception System. As stated in the statement by the Minister of Inclusion, Elma Saiz, This program is “a very important piece in a coherent immigration policy like that of Spain”:
(We recommend: Letter to the Three Wise Men went viral due to a tender request: 'Health for my family').
“Not only do we fulfill our international commitments, but we continue to promote safe, orderly and regular migration in this way,” he defended. Program execution It is governed by the action protocol prepared by the Ministries of Foreign AffairsEuropean Union and Cooperation, Interior and Inclusion, in agreement with UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
It determines the selection criteria for people to be resettled, the recognition of international protection, transfers to Spain and the subsequent development of the reception program, the ministry recalled.
EFE
#people #died #arrive #illegally #Spain
