The year 2023 is the deadliest year on this migration route since 2017. Since January 1 last year, 2,200 migrants have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean: On average there are 8 lives per day, or what is the same, a death is recorded every 3 hours.
Doctors Without Borders complains in its report “Nobody came to save us” that the passivity of European countries is exacerbating the situation and leading to more deaths in the central Mediterranean. They point to countries like Malta and Italy that endanger people’s lives, delay rescues, assign distant ports for disembarkation or encourage returns to unsafe third countries.
Jana Ciernioch, the NGO’s humanitarian affairs coordinator, accuses Mediterranean countries of violent border practices. “And what is the European answer to this?” Ciernioch regrets that the answer is not the solution, considering that it involves agreements with third countries and forced returns to unsafe places, without helping people who need it. And they cite Malta as an example that has “become a pioneer in not rescuing people.”
Nevertheless, Doctors Without Borders admits that in some European countries the number of migrants trying to reach Europe has doubled, particularly on the migration route from Tunisia and Italy. “This significant increase in departures, together with the lack of government rescue capacity and resources, has led to an increase in endangered ships and shipwrecks,” the NGO admits.