Some 289 children are known to have died in the first half of 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, the United Nations said Friday.
The figure is double that recorded in the first six months of 2022, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said, as it called for expanded safe, legal and accessible pathways for children to seek protection in Europe.
Verena Knaus, UNICEF’s global lead on migration and relegation, said the true numbers were likely to be advanced as numerous disasters on the central Mediterranean leave no survivors or go unlisted.
“The number of children who have lost their lives while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe has doubled in the first half of this time compared to the same period last time,” she said.
“In the first six months of this time, we estimate 11,600 children made the crossing-again, nearly doubly as numerous as in the same period in 2022.”
UNICEF said that in the first three months of 2023, around 3,300 children-71 percent of all children arriving in Europe on the central Mediterranean route-were recorded as lonely or promised.
