On this day of 6 February, which marks CommemorAction[1], EuroMed Rights publishes a map of the actors in the Mediterranean region who are involved in the search for missing persons and the identification of people who have died during their migratory journeys.
With more than 31,287 migrants missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants project, and 60,620 migrants and refugees having lost their lives trying to reach Europe between 1993 and 2024, according to the United for Intercultural Action, many families are still struggling to find or identify their missing or deceased loved ones. The prolongation of the mourning and suffering of the families is still far from being relieved. This impact on communities is mainly due to the lack of political will on the part of States to strengthen their cooperation to prevent disappearances and deaths. A human rights perspective, to guarantee human dignity and strengthen regulatory traffic routes is needed more than ever.”
In order to meet the search needs of missing or deceased persons in migration, EuroMed Rights, in partnership with several civil society organisations, has developed this mapping. The aim is to facilitate the connection between families and civil society organisations in the countries or geographical areas where disappearances and deaths occur. This is a step that will allow families who are looking for their loved ones to be better informed of the steps to follow and to be accompanied by the actors on site. This mapping also aims to strengthen collaboration between civil society organizations to fight and change the policies that result in the disappearance of migrants and to better support families in their search processes.
EuroMed Rights and its partners are strongly committed to fighting to change the policies that lead to the disappearance and deaths of people on the move, to support families in their quest for truth, justice and the search/identification of their loved ones, and to dialogue with all institutions or States in order to guarantee human dignity.
[1] CommemorActions are actions that pay tribute to people who have died or gone missing at sea on their journey to Europe. Born from the collaboration between the relatives of those who disappear in the Mediterranean and the activists who collect their testimonies and disseminate their demands, CommemorActions have been organised in recent years across Europe and Africa. They are both commemorations and protests, mixing political messages and artistic performances, but above all, they connect bereaved families to as many people as possible, creating platforms to make their stories and demands visible.