A new report estimates refugees and migrants headed to Europe are more likely to be killed on African land routes, particularly in the dangerous Sahara Desert crossing, than on Mediterranean sea routes.
Extreme violence, human rights violations and exploitation afflict those fleeing by land and sea, the U.N.'s refugee and migration agencies, UNHCR and IOM, and Mixed Migration Centre reported on Friday.
More people are estimated to cross the Sahara than the Mediterranean, and deaths of refugees and migrants in the desert are presumed to be double those at sea, according to data collected from 2020 to 2023.
The Mediterranean is considered the most dangerous sea route for refugees and migrants. Around 7,115 people on the move were reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean from Jan. 2020 to May 2024. That includes 785 people dead or missing in the first half of this year.
An array of key risks
Refugees and migrants report suffering from torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, death, kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence and exploitation, enslavement, human trafficking, forced labor, organ removal, robbery, arbitrary detention, collective expulsions and refoulement.
"Criminal gangs and armed groups are reported as the main perpetrators of these abuses, in addition to security forces, police, military, immigration officers and border guards," the agencies say.
Drawing on interviews with more than 31,000 refugees and migrants, the report finds the number of those bound for the Mediterranean rose with conflicts and violence in Sudan, the Central Sahel region and other areas.
