A total of 171,635 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during 2017 compared with 363,504 arrivals across the region in 2016, according to the UN migration agency on Friday.
Member states of the European Union (EU) will pump "sufficient" money into a trust fund to stem illegal migration from North Africa, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday.
Some 4,100 migrants have been rescued in the Central Mediterranean in the past 24 hours, raising the number of arrivals to Italy to 90,000 since the start of the year, according to rescue organizations on Thursday.
An estimated 366 migrants died at sea during their Mediterranean journey to Europe in the first 53 days of 2017, down from 425 of the comparable period of last year, the United Nations migration agency said Friday.
The number of bodies of refugees recovered on a Libyan beach since the weekend has risen to 87, according to a media official from the coastal city of Sabratha.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Sunday expressed alarm at the number of migrant and refugee deaths in the past week in the Central Mediterranean, many of whom were believed to be unaccompanied minors.
UN, 23 April 2016 – The United Nations Security Council has deplored the recent maritime tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea that resulted in up to 500 deaths when an overcrowded boat capsized en route from Libya to Europe, emphasizing the need for better coordination of efforts to deal with the smuggling of migrants.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday estimated over 909,000 migrants and refugees have reached Europe by sea so far this year.
The UN refugee agency said Oct.1 that it was expecting 700,000 migrants and refugees to reach Europe via the Mediterranean sea this year and projected at least the same amount again in 2016.
More than 2,000 people have died so far this year trying to make the
perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday, making it the world's
most dangerous migrant route.