Deaths of migrants by people smugglers along the Eastern Mediterranean route to Greece surged in 2022 by nearly 300 per cent over the previous year, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR.
According to a report from the UNHCR, at least 326 people were either reported as missing or have been confirmed to have died trying to cross the Eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Greece last year.
The 2022 numbers are nearly three times higher than 2021 — which saw 115 migrants reported dead or missing — and are the largest numbers since the peak of the European migrant crisis in 2015 and 2016.
The number of deaths is also the highest relative to the number of migrants who arrived in Greece illegally since 2014. In 2022, a total of 12,756 migrants arrived in Greece across the Eastern Mediterranean route, while 2016, which saw 441 deaths, saw 173,450 migrant arrivals.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has recently claimed that migrant arrivals have declined over the last three years saying, “After the explosion in the period 2015-2019, in 2021 we had the lowest flows of the decade, 8,745, and steadily low in 2022 too.”
“The result is that instead of 92,000 asylum seekers living in 121 facilities, we have today 14,000 in 33 facilities,” he said.
“The migration issue doesn’t end. And it is at the same time a challenge and a need. Our country is implementing a strict but fair migration policy,” Mitarakis said and added, “With an emphasis on migration with rules, criteria, agreements, in accordance with our needs. But we stand firmly against smuggling rings and illegal migration.”
Greece has also reported having arrested as many as 1,300 migrant smugglers last year along the Evros river, which borders Turkey. Greek Civil Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos added that around 256,000 migrants had been prevented from crossing the Evros river last year.
“Our borders are impassable. The fence will be built along the entire length of the Evros River, the construction of the first 35 kilometres is imminent,” he said earlier this month.
Since 2014, an estimated 29,000 migrants have either been reported as dead or missing trying to reach Europe, led to their deaths by people smugglers.