UN refugee agency: 2016 is deadliest year for refugees crossing to Europe via Central Mediterranean

2 September 2016 – The United Nations refugee agency today flagged that while the number of deaths of refugees seeking safety via the Turkey-Greece route into Europe has fallen dramatically, the use of the North Africa-Italy route has remained constant – with the latter experiencing an increase in the number of deaths, making 2016 the deadliest year so far for refugees in the Central Mediterranean.

“The chances of dying on the Libya to Italy route are ten times higher than when crossing from Turkey to Greece,” a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), William Spindler, told a media briefing at the UN Office in Geneva today

According to UNHCR, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece has dropped dramatically, from over 67,000 in January 2016 to 3,437 in August 2016, following the closure of the so-called Balkan route and the implementation of the European Union-Turkey Statement, an agreement on methods to end the irregular migration from Turkey to the EU and replace it instead with legal channels of resettlement.

The number of arrivals to Italy, meanwhile, has remained more or less constant, with some 115,000 refugees and migrants landing in Italy as of the end of August this year, compared to 116,000 during the same period last year.  - Read More 
UN refugee agency: 2016 is deadliest year for refugees crossing to Europe via Central Mediterranean

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