81 people in Malta's search-and-rescue zone on Tuesday. When the Maltese authorities finally launched a rescue this morning, 24 hours after first being alerted to them, they found three people dead
[Sea Watch]
MORE people have died on maritime migration routes into Europe in the first six months of this year than in the same period of 2020, according to research by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
At least 1,146 people have drowned so far this year, which represents “a substantial increase compared with the fatalities recorded in the same period in 2020 (513) and 2019 (674),” says the IOM report published on Tuesday.
The vast majority of the deaths (896) occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, while at least 250 people died in the Atlantic Ocean while trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands and six others during attempts to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
A society that grows accustomed to ‘undesirable’ people also grows accustomed to undesirable deaths. Minneapolis serves as a wake-up call, including for our own refugee policies, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
