IOM records over 3,000 migrant deaths so far this year
Star Online Report
Star Online Report
The International Organization for Migration's (IOM)'s Missing Migrants Project has recorded over 3,000 deaths on migratory routes worldwide so far in 2020.
Despite Covid-19 and the extensive travel restrictions and measures implemented on borders across the world in an attempt to control the spread of the virus, tens of thousands of people continued to leave their homes and embark on dangerous journeys across deserts and seas, the UN migration agency said in a release on Friday.
Although the overall number of people known to have lost their lives in 2020 is fewer than previous years, some routes saw an increase in fatalities. Most notably, at least 593 people died en route to Spain's Canary Islands thus far in 2020, compared to 210 in 2019 and 45 in 2018.