Italy has received over one million migrants since 2013, while the mortality rate of people coming to the country has surpassed 28,000.
According to Info Migrants, the number of migrants to Italy that have died or gone missing during migration started in the early 2010s, more specifically in 2013, when 368 migrants who departed from Libya lost their lives.
The NGO Save the Children has revealed that more than 28,000 migrants in the Mediterranean have died in attempts to reach Italy, including some 1,143 minors.
Four per cent or more than 100 minors have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean this year, while 112,000 unaccompanied minors have reached Italy by sea since 2014. Since January 1 this year, more than 11,600 minors crossed the Mediterranean and reached the country alone.
The number of migrants reaching Italy was the highest in 2016, when 181,000 migrants reached the country, while in the upcoming years, the lowest number of arrivals was recorded between 2018 and 2020 when less than 30,000 people arrived in the country.
The waves of landings and arrivals have almost always been connected to wars and economic and political crises.
Last month, the Italian island of Lampedusa received some 12,000 migrants – which is more than twice the population of this island. This caused havoc in the city, and despite the fact that locals tried to help migrants, the issue remains sensitive.
In an effort to withhold a migrant crisis, the EU and Tunisia’s President Kais Said signed a new pact on migration, through which the African country was promised €900 million to support the economy and invest in energy and youth development. In addition to this amount, Tunisia was promised another €100 million to protect its border security with shared priorities of combating irregular migration.
In mid-September, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with refugees and migrants in Lampedusa and also announced a ten-step plan to help ease the migration in this island.
We will increase our support to transfer migrants out of Lampedusa. We urge other Member States to use the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism and transfer migrants out of Italy. – Von Der Leyen
This plan will include support from the bodies to increase support for returning migrants as well as establish operational partnerships on anti-smuggling. In general, the EU Commission intends through this ten-point programme to reinforce support to Italy by the EUAA and Frontex, as well as support the transfer of people out of Lampedusa.
