IOM data: 52,000 migrants died fleeing humanitarian crises since 2014

GENEVA, April 29 (Kuna) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Tuesday that more than 52,000 migrants have died since 2014 while attempting to escape severe humanitarian crises, including armed conflicts, natural disasters and insecurity.
According to IOM's new report, nearly 72 percent of all globally recorded migrant deaths over the past decade involved people fleeing such crises. This includes over 39,000 deaths inside crisis-affected regions and more than 13,500 deaths during attempts to escape those areas.
"These numbers are a tragic reminder that people risk their lives when insecurity, lack of opportunity and other pressures leave them with no safe or viable options at home," said IOM Director General Amy Pope. "We must invest to create stability and opportunity within communities so that migration is a choice not a necessity." The report highlights the Central Mediterranean route as the deadliest migration pathway globally, with nearly 25,000 lives lost at sea by migrants trying to reach Europe.
It also emphasized that more than half; around 54 percent, of all recorded migrant deaths since 2014 occurred in/or near countries affected by conflict or disaster, underscoring the extreme risks migrants face in crisis zones such as Afghanistan and Myanmar.
In Afghanistan alone, noted the report, over 5,000 people have died in transit, many of them after the political upheaval in 2021.
Among the Rohingya community from Myanmar, more than 3,100 people have perished, mostly in shipwrecks or while crossing into Bangladesh seeking safety and dignity, the report added.
IOM urged States and humanitarian partners to work together to ensure migrants are not excluded from crisis responses.
It stressed the importance of expanding legal migration pathways, ensuring access to aid and healthcare and investing in accurate data systems to monitor and protect migrants at risk. (end) imk.hb