GENEVA
\nMore than 72,000 deaths and disappearances have been documented along migration routes around the world in the past decade, most of them in crisis-affected countries, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
\nLast year saw the highest migrant death toll on record, with at least 8,938 people dying on migration routes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
\n\u201cThese numbers are a tragic reminder that people risk their lives when insecurity, lack of opportunity, and other pressures leave them with no safe or viable options at home,\u201d IOM chief Amy Pope said in a statement.
\nThe report by her UN agency found that nearly three-quarters of all migrant deaths and disappearances recorded globally since 2014 occurred as people fled insecurity, conflict, disaster and other humanitarian crises.
\nOne in four were \u201cfrom countries affected by humanitarian crises, with the deaths of thousands of Afghans, Rohingya, and Syrians documented on migration routes worldwide,\u201d said the IOM\u2019s Missing Migrants Report.
\nThe report said that more than 52,000 people died while trying to escape from one of the 40 countries in the world where the UN has a crisis response plan or humanitarian response plan in place.
\nPope urged international investment \u201cto create stability and opportunity within communities, so that migration is a choice, not a necessity.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd when staying is no longer possible, we must work together to enable safe, legal, and orderly pathways that protect lives.\u201d
\nThe Central Mediterranean remains the deadliest migration route in the world, with nearly 25,000 people lost at sea in the past decade, IOM said.
\nMore than 12,000 of those had been lost at sea after departing from war-torn Libya, with countless others disappearing while transiting the Sahara Desert, the report said.
\nMore than 5,000 people died while trying to leave crisis-ravaged Afghanistan in the past decade, many of them since the Taliban retook power in 2021.
\nAnd more than 3,100 members of Myanmar\u2019s persecuted Rohingya minority had died during the period, many in shipwrecks or while crossing into Bangladesh.
\n\u201cToo often, migrants fall through the cracks,\u201d warned Julia Black, coordinator of IOM\u2019s Missing Migrants Project and author of the report.
\n\u201cAnd due to data gaps \u2014 especially in war zones and disaster areas \u2014 the true death toll is likely far higher than what we\u2019ve recorded,\u201d she said in the statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA More than 72,000 deaths and disappearances have been documented along migration routes around the world in the past decade, most of them in crisis-affected countries, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Last year saw the highest migrant death toll on record, with at least 8,938 people dying on migration routes, according to the International […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n