Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost during Migration
Chapter
1
Counting Migrant Deaths: An International Overview
Tara Brian and Frank Laczko1
1.1 Introduction On 3 October 2013, over 360 people lost their lives travelling from Libya to Lampedusa, Italy, when their boat sank just a quarter-mile from its destination. With roughly 500 passengers jammed into a 20-metre-long boat, efforts to attract attention following engine trouble led to a fire that engulfed the ship in flames. Survivors tell horrifying stories of hours spent in the sea as their companions died around them. A second shipwreck near Lampedusa later in the month resulted in a further 34 deaths. While these events are tragic and alarming, they are not isolated incidents. IOM estimates that between January and September 2014, at least 4,077 migrants died attempting to reach destinations around the world. This figure is nearly 70 per cent higher than the 2,400 deaths recorded for the whole of 2013, largely driven by increases in the Mediterranean region.2 Since year 2000, IOM estimates that at least 40,000 migrants have died. While significant, these global figures still fail to capture the true number of fatalities. Many migrant deaths occur in remote regions of the world and are never recorded. In some cases boats and all their passengers disappear at sea and no deaths are reported. Some experts estimate that for every dead body found on the shores of the developed world there are at least two others that are never recovered (Weber and Pickering, 2011). Despite the recognition among States, international organizations and civil society organizations that action must be taken to stop more unnecessary deaths, as yet there remains little information on the scale of the problem, and no organization * The views expressed in this chapter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 1 Tara Brian is a Research Officer with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Frank Laczko is the Head of the Migration Research Division of IOM based in Geneva, Switzerland. 2 Figures correspond to deaths that occurred at the physical borders of States or during migration towards an international destination. They exclude deaths that occur once in a destination country that can be indirectly attributable to immigration policies, such those occurring in detention facilities, during deportation, or on forced return to a migrant’s homeland. Figures include both confirmed dead and people missing and presumed dead, generally at sea. Often numbers of missing are estimates, sometimes rough ones, as total passenger counts are rarely known. These figures include only deaths that are reported; countless others occur in remote areas and are simply not known of. Thus, estimates represent a base minimum of the true global count. In some cases, estimates were compiled based on extrapolation from partial data. For 2014, United States–Mexico border deaths are estimated based on available data for Pima County, Arizona and Brooks County, Texas, which cover the majority of the Tucson and Laredo sectors, respectively.
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