Spain: A Spanish non-governmental organization has announced that the number of refugees and migrants who died or were reported missing while trying to reach Spain was 2,390 in 2022. This number is down from 2021 but “consistent” in numbers of loss of life in the last five years.
The NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking the Borders) pointed out that 288 women and 101 children are among the dead or missing.
According to the figures, around 1,784 of those people died while trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands by boat, but the organization also sounded the alarm about the increasingly popular route from Algeria to its eastern Mediterranean coast.
Spain. On this route, at least 464 people lost their lives trying to reach Europe.
The organization Caminando Fronteras explains that it collects its own data from refugee and migrant families but also from rescue statistics. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which compiles data from media reports, non-governmental organizations and interviews with migrants in addition to official records, said 2,556 people died trying to reach Europe overall last year, of which 1,126 were on the West Africa-Atlantic Route and 260 on the West Mediterranean, i.e. the routes to Spain.
The number of migrants arriving in Spain fell by 25.6% in 2022, according to Interior Ministry data, from 41,945 in 2021 to 31,219 in 2022. However, land arrivals at Spain’s border points with Morocco, in Spanish enclaves Melilla and Ceuta, in North Africa have recorded a 24.1% increase.
Caminando Fronteras pointed out that in one of the most well-known incidents of the death of refugees and migrants on June 24, 40 people lost their lives, while previous reports said 23 were dead.
That day, hundreds of men climbed over the fence on the Moroccan side of the border in Melilla and were taken to a border crossing area. When they made it through the gate to the Spanish side, several people were overwhelmed.
