Ahead of the Global Day of Struggle against Deaths at Borders on 6 February 2022, EuroMed Rights joins 125+ organisations in the CommemorAction Day to denounce the number of people who died, went missing or disappeared at borders while trying to reach Europe. These deaths are a direct consequence and responsibility of the EU’s and Member States’ migration policies. In 2021 alone, more than 6,000 men, women and children died trying to cross the Mediterranean, but the actual number is likely to be much higher.
No more deaths at borders!
Instead of reducing access to their territories, carrying out pushbacks and supporting actors such as the Libyan Coast Guard – thus undermining fundamental rights and guarantees at their borders -, the EU and its Member States should open legal pathways, grant safe access to territory and asylum, and increase resettlement and relocation efforts among Member States.
“Opening legal pathways is the only way to prevent migrants from embarking on deathly journeys, and thus to reduce deaths. The procedures for the identification of dead migrants are of paramount importance for migrants’ dignity and for helping the victims’ families in the difficult process of healing and grief. The EU and its Member States have the chance to change their policies now and avoid this tragic loss of lives we have been witnessing for years!,” declared Wadih Al-Asmar, President of EuroMed Rights.
Note to editors: Infosheets on missing migrants in the Maghreb countries
In the framework of its project Protecting the rights of migrants and refugees in the Maghreb region and supporting the work of civil society organisations (CSOs) on this issue, EuroMed Rights is committed to raising awareness on the increased number of dead and missing migrants on their migratory journeys, and to increasing cooperation among CSOs, migrant communities and families of missing migrants across Maghreb countries and the Southern Mediterranean.
Today, EuroMed Rights is publishing a series of country infosheets on Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy and Spain, as repositories of all useful materials and resources on missing migrants in each of the countries.
The resources are divided into relevant information related to the ‘Governmental and institutional level’; ‘Civil society and non-governmental sector’; ‘academia and research’; and other information that can be of interest, such as names of experts, activists and special commemorations.
The infosheets aim at informing CSOs, activists, media, families of missing migrants and different stakeholders on resources available and associations working on this theme in order to increase cooperation and join forces. These infosheets are not meant to be exhaustive and we invite organisations, experts and researchers to send us any feedback and further relevant information to be included therein.