Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost during Migration
all people. From this perspective, rescue should be the number one priority. It is also often argued that fewer migrants would risk death if more legal channels for migration existed. A competing view stresses that policies focusing on search and rescue encourage more migrants to make dangerous journeys and permit smugglers and traffickers to profit even more from irregular migration. While views may differ on how best to limit the number of migrant deaths, there is broad agreement on the need for better data. Fundamental information surrounding deaths is a necessary starting point from which to trace the impacts of policies and practices and to guide more effective interventions. Currently the scattered and ad hoc nature of much of the data on migrant deaths is detrimental to constructive debate. Particularly in recent years, media attention to the issue of migrant deaths has largely focused on Southern Europe, North America and Australia. In addition to these more “visible” boundaries between the Global North and the Global South, migrants are dying in numerous locations around the world, very often without their stories ever making headlines. Some of these areas include routes out of the Horn of Africa – either to the Gulf (via Yemen to Saudi Arabia); northwards through Sudan to the northern coast of Africa, or southwards towards South Africa, both treacherous routes that can involve crossing deserts, mountains and lakes, often passing through remote areas chosen with the aim of avoiding detection. Malicious actions of smugglers, traffickers and other criminals also contribute to deaths that remain hidden for the most part, except for in the horrifying accounts of survivors. Routes from Western and Central Africa to the Canary Islands and to North Africa are also fraught with dangers, and based on the accounts of migrants who have made these journeys, death is not uncommon. However, the shifting sands of the desert quickly hide remains that are often not seen again. Since 2012, nearly 100,000 people are estimated to have risked their lives to cross the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to reach Thailand, en route to Malaysia (UNHCR, 2014b). The (Office of the) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that over 1,500 have lost their lives during this journey between 2012 and the first half of 2014 (UNHCR, 2014a; UNHCR, 2014b). The mountains between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey present a daunting challenge for Afghans crossing overland to Greece, from where most hope to continue farther into Europe, although this is often not possible. With land borders increasingly sealed along both the Greece–Turkey and Bulgaria–Turkey borders, a growing number of migrants and asylum-seekers are attempting the more dangerous sea crossings to the islands of Greece (see Amnesty International, 2014). In addition to the routes mentioned above, numerous other rivers, mountain ranges, seas and deserts cost migrants and asylum-seekers their lives. Too frequently, journeys involve violence, abuse, torture, extortion and malpractice at the hands of criminals and corrupt officials, which can also result in death.
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