More Migrants Have Died Trying To Reach Europe In 2016 Than Ever Before

Just as 2016 was coming to an end, the number of undocumented migrants that have drowned trying to reach Europe by boat hit 5,000. This is the highest number that the U.N. has ever recorded. In 2015, the number of people that died was 3,700 and that was 3,700 too many. The fact that it has increased so much is horrifying and the creation of a safer way of travel should be a priority for world leaders so that this isn’t allowed to continue into 2017.

Even though the number of migrants traveling by boat has decreased significantly since 2015, more people have died traveling in those poorly constructed boats crossing the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean. In 2015, about 1,000,000 people reached Europe by sea, which is a lot more than 2016 when only 360,000 people came to Europe by the Mediterranean Sea. But don’t be fooled by the lower number, 360,000 people feeling the need to resort to such unsafe ways to get to safety is way too many.

So why has the number of deaths increased even though the number of travelers has decreased? Well, there are a number of reasons for this such as, the closing of the humanitarian border between Greece and Germany and the Greece’s and Turkey’s efforts to stop the flow of refugees from traveling through their countries. This has resulted in more and more people traveling from North Africa to Italy instead which is a longer and more dangerous route to take.

The change in route combined with smugglers using worse boats and riskier tactics to keep the boats from being detected by, for example, sending more boats out at the same time has resulted in more boats sinking. And since they send out a large number of boats at the same time its harder for the coast guards to save the people on the different boats at the same time.

“One thing is for sure, that no refugee would be on those dangerous boats if they could thrive where they are. And no migrant would take that dangerous journey if they had enough food for themselves and their children. And no one would put their life savings in the hands of those notorious smugglers if there was a legal way to migrate.” – Melissa Fleming

A lot of the refugees fleeing across the Mediterranean are from Syria, where a horrific war is being fought that has forced millions of people to flee. This war has been going on for over five years now, and because of failed negotiating attempts and an unsuccessful and dysfunctional U.N. security council, the war doesn’t end. As a result of European countries closing their borders and their continued refusal to create legal and safe ways for refugees to enter, people continue to have to put their lives at risk fleeing from a war that European world leaders are prolonging.

The U.N. is calling for Europe to create safe and legal ways for refugees to travel to safety and Europe needs to start listening. There needs to be a greater effort by European countries to make sure that refugees have a safe route to travel and a safe place to live.

I hope that in 2017, we don’t continue to look the other way while people die every day. No one fleeing war, death and suffering should have to die a few hundred meters from safety. We, as humans, need to work together and show some humanity so that no more people have to die because they want something better for themselves and their families than war and persecution.