Migrant Death Toll Reaches 5,000
A Mediterranean shipwreck has taken this year’s worldwide death toll of migrants to 5,000. Nearly 100 people are feared to have died after two dinghies sank between Libya and Italy on Dec. 22.
The overcrowded vessels capsized in the Strait of Sicily, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
“Those two incidents together appear to be the numbers that would bring this year’s total to 5,000 [deaths], which is a new high in this crisis,” IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a briefing in Geneva.
A total of 3,777 migrants perished at sea during 2015, the IOM said. The UNHCR appealed to states to open up more legal pathways for admitting refugees.
“This is the worst annual death toll ever seen,” said spokesman William Spindler.
Refugees Left in the Cold; U.N. and E.U. Incompetence Blamed
The United Nations and European Union have been accused by aid groups of mismanaging funds for refugees.
Although hundreds of millions of euros have been earmarked to help nearly 60,000 refugees and migrants stranded in Greece, many are still living in appalling conditions.
Along with the Greek government, the E.U. and U.N. have failed to ready refugee camps in the country for the onset of winter, the aid groups told The Guardian. They said they had been forced to cover emergency needs themselves because of the incompetence of the relevant authorities.
A fund of 115 million euros ($120 million) was set aside by the E.U. in September to improve winter living conditions for roughly 50 refugee camps in Greece, but many people are still facing winter in tents out in the open without hot water.
Greece’s archipelago of refugee camps is overseen by the Greek army, the UNHCR and a host of other agencies, as well as myriad volunteers, with no single body having overall authority.
Nearly half of those living in camps have yet to be transferred to proper housing before winter. Of the 45 camps that were still active at the start of this month, the Guardian reported that at least 15 had yet to be properly adapted before snow fell in northern Greece.
The UNHCR could cite only eight camps where all the residents have been moved out of tents and into prefabricated containers.
Obama Scraps Inactive Muslim Register to Pre-Empt Trump
The Obama administration has scrapped an inactive immigration registry. The move appeared to pre-empt any efforts by president-elect Donald Trump to register Muslims coming to the United States.
The register, which had been inactive since 2011, was introduced after 9/11 as a requirement for immigrant men from predominantly Muslim countries.
The decision to end the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System follows suggestions from Trump that he could ban Muslim immigrants from the U.S.
Following a truck attack in Berlin this week, Trump told reporters, “You know my plans,” Reuters reported.
By eliminating the defunct program the Obama administration could complicate any efforts by the incoming administration to launch its own registration system for Muslims.
Recommended Reads:
- Oxfam: The Situation of Refugee and Migrant Women in Greece
- The Guardian: Appalling Conditions at Greek Refugee Camps Despite E.U.’s Multi-Million Pound Aid Spend – Video
- Fotini Rantsiou: A System Not Fit for Purpose
- Human Rights Watch: Burma: Rohingya Recount Killings, Rape and Arson