The figure is equivalent to eleven child deaths every week. According to the UN, some 289 children died in the first six months of 2023 trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
This figure is double that of the first six months of 2022, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), which called for the creation of safe humanitarian corridors that allow children to find refuge in Europe.
Thousands of unaccompanied children
“The number of children who have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe has doubled in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year,” the UNICEF Migration and Displaced Persons official told reporters. , Verena Knaus. .
“We estimate that in the first six months of this year 11,600 children crossed, also double compared to the same period in 2022,” he said.
In the first three months of 2023, 3,300 children who crossed – 71% of the total – were going alone or had been separated from their families, according to Unicef. This figure is three times higher than that of the same period of the previous year.
“These children need to know that they are not alone. World leaders must act urgently”, argued Verena Knaus.
One of the worst shipwrecks of the past month
MEPs called on Thursday for the development of a “reliable and permanent search and rescue strategy” for migrants in the Mediterranean, after a shipwreck in mid-June off the Greek coast that could have killed more than 600 people.
An old and overloaded trawler from Libya sank off the coast of Greece on the night of June 13-14. Only 104 exiles could be rescued while the ship was carrying around 750 people, MEPs point out. 82 bodies were recovered but the other castaways are presumed dead.
Source: BFM TV
