From January to the end of June last year, at least 150 minors died on those escape routes. “More and more children, driven by conflict and climate change, are risking their lives by taking the dangerous route across the Mediterranean to Europe,” said Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s Migration Director.
The organization assumes that the actual numbers are even higher. Many boats sink without survivors and the deaths of those on board are therefore never recorded.
UNICEF uses the term ‘children’ for all minors. So no distinction is made between young children and adolescents.
UNICEF estimates that 11,600 minors were among the refugees on the Mediterranean routes in the first six months of this year. That is almost twice as much as last year. Many of them make the crossing without their parents. Knaus denounces that too little is being done to save migrants. “Hundreds of girls and boys die because of this passivity.”