“These are the pain figures”, lamented the report’s co-author. More than 4,400 migrants died or disappeared last year during their sea crossing to Spain, twice as many as in 2020, according to a report published by the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, Monday, January 3. The vast majority of the bodies (94%) of these 4,404 people have never been found, so they are counted as missing.
This terrible assessment drawn up by the NGO – which establishes its figures thanks to calls from migrants or their relatives to its emergency numbers – makes 2021 the deadliest year since at least 2015, the date on which the first works date back. long. In 2020, Caminando Fronteras had identified 2,170 dead or missing.
The results of this NGO for 2021 are much higher than that of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has identified at least 955 dead or missing in the crossing, from Morocco and Algeria, to the archipelago of Canaries and 324 to mainland Spain and the Balearic archipelago.
This UN agency, however, also believes that the year 2021 was extremely murderous, the deadliest since 1997 according to its data and those of the Spanish NGO APDHA.
“Feminization” of migratory routes
According to Caminando Fronteras, the vast majority of these migrants disappeared while trying to reach the Canaries from northwest Africa. This very dangerous road has been taken much more in recent years due to the strengthening of controls in the Mediterranean, explained María González Rollán, co-author of the NGO’s annual report. She also highlighted the “Feminization” migratory routes to Spain: 628 women and 205 children died or disappeared in 2021, according to the NGO.
The coordinator of Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno, denounced “The lack of means” for rescues and highlighted the responsibility of “Criminal organizations” smugglers, as well as the lack of coordination between Spain and Morocco due to their diplomatic quarrel.
This crisis, caused by the reception for medical reasons, in Spain, of the leader of the independence fighters of Western Sahara, had led to the arrival of more than 10,000 migrants in mid-May in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, thanks to a relaxation of controls by Rabat.
Spain remains one of the main gateways for illegal migrants to Europe. At least 37,385 migrants arrived on its shores in 2021, according to the latest figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.