Kuwait City: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Tuesday that more than 52,000 migrants have died since 2014 while attempting to escape severe humanitarian crises, including armed conflicts, natural disasters, and insecurity.
According to Kuwait News Agency, IOM's new report reveals that nearly 72 percent of all globally recorded migrant deaths over the past decade involved individuals fleeing such crises. This grim statistic includes over 39,000 deaths inside crisis-affected regions and more than 13,500 deaths occurring during attempts to escape those areas.
"These 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," stated IOM Director General Amy Pope. The report highlights the Central Mediterranean route as the deadliest migration pathway globally, with nearly 25,000 lives lost at sea by migrants trying to reach Europe.
The report also emphasized that more than half, around 54 percent, of all recorded migrant deaths since 2014 occurred in or near countries affected by conflict or disaster. This underscores the extreme risks migrants face in crisis zones such as Afghanistan and Myanmar.
In Afghanistan, the report noted, over 5,000 people have died in transit, many of them after the political upheaval in 2021. Among the Rohingya community from Myanmar, more than 3,100 people have perished, mostly in shipwrecks or while crossing into Bangladesh seeking safety and dignity.
IOM urged states and humanitarian partners to collaborate to ensure migrants are not excluded from crisis responses. It stressed the importance of expanding legal migration pathways, ensuring access to aid and healthcare, and investing in accurate data systems to monitor and protect migrants at risk.