According to official data, more than 6,100 people died looking for a better future

Leer en español: Las duras cifras de la inmigración en 2017

Between 2015 and 2016, the refugee crisis in Europe was in major newspapers and television channels around the world. There was not a day in which there were no new tragedies, stories or testimonies that narrated the ordeal of thousands of migrants – mostly Syrians fleeing the war that has ravaged their country since 2011 – to reach the Old Continent. Countries like Germany took the initiative to welcome many of them, but other states such as Hungary or Serbia shielded their borders to contain what they considered an "invasion".

Almost two years later, this crisis continues, with thousands of refugees blocked in Greece and Macedonia, waiting for the opportunity to enjoy the riches of Europe. However, the attention of the media is no longer the same and, during the past year, their interest has shifted on the drama of Venezuelans fleeing because of the economic, social, and political crisis that their country is going through.

In 2017, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 6,100 people died or disappeared while trying to reach a better future. To be exact, IOM was able to confirm 6,142 cases, of which almost half, 3,139, occurred in Mediterranean waters, most on the coasts of Libya and Tunisia. In Africa, there were 1,700 cases, accounting for 690 deaths in the Sahara desert. In the Middle East there were 208 fatalities, mostly in border regions between Turkey and Syria. In America, 669 deaths were reported, 415 at the border between Mexico and the United States. Finally, in Southeast Asia, specifically on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, 250 members of the Rohingya minority perished in fleeing repression in former Burma.

However, the director general of the IOM, William Lacy Swing, acknowledges that "these data are incomplete, because not all deaths or disappearances are reported. This happens mainly in the most remote areas where bodies are never found and migrants are not identified".

The IOM laments the lack of official sources to prepare these reports; in most cases, they depend on the information provided by the media and interviews with the migrants themselves, whose stories are often practically impossible to verify. . The situation in Africa is particularly serious, a continent in which more than a thousand languages ​​are spoken and in which only a small percentage of those affected can be interviewed, who in general tell of tragedies experienced in the first person; one in four states that they have I saw someone die along the way.

2018 is not expected to be a positive year. Even though the armed conflict in Syria has lessening its intensity. The crisis in Venezuela can be exacerbated by the controversial elections that will take place in April; Colombia assumes that thousands of citizens of this country will continue to cross the border. The situation of the Rohingya does not seem to have a solution in the short or medium term and the tightening of migration policy by Donald Trump increases the risk of the already dangerous journey of thousands of immigrants trying to reach the United States through Mexico. .

Latin American Post | José María González

Translated from "Las duras cifras de la inmigración en 2017"