Chapter 1 Migrant Deaths: An International Overview
who drown often does not occur, as hope of recovering survivors dwindles and the number of missing people is unknown. Often this is compounded by the fact that bodies may wash up on the shores of countries not involved in rescue efforts - thus, these deaths may be excluded from counts. Even in cases when missing boat passengers and overland migrants are reported, generally by surviving relatives, bodies are often never recovered. According to the Colibrà Center for Human Rights, which works to trace missing migrants, an estimated 2,000 people are reported as missing along the United States–Mexico border. Countless others remain missing and are never reported. They are simply not heard of again, their remains lost in the sand, buried in unmarked graves or washed on remote shores. 1.4.3 Missing information In 2014, nearly 70 per cent of deaths recorded by IOM refer to migrants who are missing, mainly at sea. While it is generally presumed that those missing are dead, this is often impossible to verify, again complicating attempts to count deaths. Much of the information on deaths is from the testimonies of surviving migrants who give estimates of numbers they believe to have died. When travel has been by boat, often migrants are not aware of the actual number of passengers, particularly when numbers are high – thus, their estimates of the missing frequently vary and are hard to verify. When boats are smaller, survivors may be able to give more precise information on numbers missing. Authorities may also create estimates of numbers missing based on the supposed capacity of boats. Again, however, the true number of passengers is often not known. Survivors of sea voyages may have heard of others on another boat who were supposed to be making the crossing but never arrived, however remains of the boat or bodies are not recovered. Additionally, the high number of bodies that are never found means that basic demographic information on the deceased is often not available, as described previously in section 1.3.2. 1.4.4 Involvement of criminal actors
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An additional complicating factor arises from the fact that irregular migration is frequently intertwined with the actions of smugglers, traffickers, other criminals and corrupt State officials. While some of these actors may help migrants avoid certain dangers associated with travel, their involvement also leads to an additional set of risks and vulnerabilities for migrants. Countless numbers of deaths have occurred either through direct murder or indirect consequences of poor care, abuse, torture, or abandonment, among others (see Chapter 5). In these cases where smugglers or other criminals are involved, if deaths are not actively covered up, they are rarely reported. Murders that suggest state corruption and complicity are kept silenced; others that occur in remote areas are only captured in the memories of survivors.
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