In 2020, at least 900 migrants lost their lives attempting to reach European shores. Between October and November, eight shipwrecks occurred in quick succession.
In recent days, shipwrecks in the Mediterranean have been occurring one after another, with an extremely grave toll in human lives. The story of Joseph, a baby of just six months from Guinea who was on board a vessel that capsized off Libya, has shaken consciences. On Wednesday morning, workers from the NGO Open Arms managed to rescue him, but he died while waiting to be transferred to hospital. In addition to him, five other migrants were killed. Just hours later, news arrived of another incident in Libyan waters.
There were 120 people on board the vessel — including women and children — which had departed from the city of Khums and sank on Thursday 12 November. At least 74 migrants lost their lives, while 47 survivors were brought ashore by the coastguard and local fishermen. Recovery operations for the bodies are still under way. It is the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that is releasing details of this tragedy — the eighth since the beginning of October. In the last two days alone, Open Arms, the only NGO currently operating on this route, has rescued more than two hundred people.
"The growing loss of life in the Mediterranean is a sign of states' failure to act decisively to reconfigure a dedicated rescue system, which is sorely needed on the world's deadliest route," said Federico Soda, head of IOM's missions in Libya, in a statement. The organisation is calling on national and supranational authorities to change their approach, putting an end to forced returns and developing a safer disembarkation system. Since the beginning of this year, at least nine hundred people have lost their lives attempting to reach European shores; and in some cases the deaths are attributable to delays in rescue operations. "Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price of inaction, both at sea and on land."
Partly due to favourable weather conditions, departures from Libya have become increasingly frequent in recent weeks. Since 1 October, IOM has counted more than 780 arrivals in Italy, against approximately 1,900 migrants who were intercepted and turned back. Since the beginning of 2020, around 11,000 have been pushed back. But Libya — IOM reiterates — cannot be considered a safe port, given the serious human rights violations documented by the United Nations. "The deteriorating humanitarian conditions of migrants held in overcrowded centres, the widespread use of arbitrary detention and arrest, extortion and abuse are alarming," the statement reads. It calls for international organisations to be authorised to carry out rescue operations.