Fatal Journeys: Number of Migrant Fatalities Climbs to 40,000 Since 2000 RIA Novosti
go to original September 29, 2014

Click map to enlarge (International Organization for Migration)

See report: Fatal Journeys - Tracking Lives Lost during Migration

Almost 40,000 migrants have died worldwide since 2000, the data, released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday suggests.

"Globally IOM estimates that at least 4,077 migrants died in 2014, and at least 40,000 since the year 2014," the report reads.

"Our message is blunt: migrants are dying who need not," IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said, as quoted in a message on the organization's website.

The study "Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost during Migration," conducted under IOM's Missing Migrant Project, was prompted by the tragedy of October 2013, when about 400 migrants died in two shipwrecks, trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa.

From the IOM website:

Going forward, the Missing Migrants Project will lend a powerful voice of deterrence to keep future victims from embarking on these dangerous journeys.

“People are already looking for information about missing migrants on Facebook. We know as well that people are trafficked around the world using Facebook and other social media,” says IOM spokesperson Leonard Doyle.

“We want to turn #MissingMigrants into a powerful voice to warn future migrants against taking these high risk journeys. It is not doing it with a poster or a radio spot, but with the most persuasive means out there – the voices of survivors and the family members of missing migrants,” he adds.

Read the rest at RIA Novosti

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!