Nearly 10,500 migrants died in 2024 trying to reach Spain, 58% more than in 2023

Eduardo González At least 10,457 migrants lost their lives throughout 2024 in their attempt to reach Spain via the route of the so-called Western Euro-African Border, according to a report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras, which claims that the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands remains “the deadliest worldwide”. The report ‘Right to Life 2024’, published in December, reveals that last year was the “deadliest” recorded by the NGO since its foundation in 2002, “with devastating figures that give an average of 30 deaths per day”. Among the victims are 421 women and 1,538 girls, boys and adolescents. Caminando Fronteras is a collective made up of human rights defenders who operate in different territories of the Western Euro-African Border. “In this year 2024, the number of victims on the Western Euro-African Border again exceeds that of the previous year,” warns the organization. With a total of 10,457 victims, and according to the figures recorded until December 15, 2024, “an increase of more than 58% is observed compared to the previous year.” “If the daily average in 2023 was 18 victims, in 2024 the average rises to 30 people per day,” it adds. According to the NGO, the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, with 9,757 deaths, continues to be “the deadliest worldwide”, and has seen a notable increase in departures from Mauritania. Of the documented tragedies suffered by people travelling in canoes from West Africa, 71% correspond to those who left from Mauritania, thus showing a reality that began at the end of 2023 and which places this country as the main migratory crossing point to the Canary Islands during the current year. In addition, the Algerian route, in the Mediterranean, is the second deadliest, according to records from Caminando Fronteras, with 517 victims. The Strait has claimed up to 110 lives, and another 73 have been lost on the Alboran route. In addition, a total of 131 boats were lost with all the people on board. In addition to these figures, the report denounces “the main causes of this increase in shipwrecks and victims”: the failure to provide assistance, the prioritisation of migration control over the right to life, the externalisation of borders in countries without adequate resources, inaction and arbitrariness in rescues, the criminalisation of social organisations and families, all this combined with situations of extreme vulnerability that push migrants to take to the sea in very precarious conditions. The report also analyses the situation of women at migration crossings, which “mainly occur in inflatable boats between Agadir and Dakhla”. “While in transit, these women suffer violence, discrimination, racism, deportation and sexual violence, being forced to survive in extreme conditions that push them into begging, prostitution and precarious work, as well as running the risk of being recruited by trafficking networks”, it denounces. According to the NGO, a growing number of migrant women are travelling in canoes from Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania, fleeing war and the impact of climate change in very impoverished areas. There has also been an increase in the presence of women on the route to the Balearic Islands from Central and West Africa, who cross Libya and Tunisia, suffering violence, slavery, racial femicides and forced displacement to Algeria. The report points to an increase in the number of children and adolescents on the main migration routes to Spain who “continue to suffer from lack of protection and guarantees from the authorities.” These minors are treated as migrants rather than as children, which is why they are exposed to political marketing and are targets for hate speech, which exposes them to situations of violation of their rights,” the report denounces. “The situation in the Canary Islands is especially critical, where children not identified as such live with adults in reception centres, a reality that exposes them to serious dangers,” it warns. “While the number of victims grows relentlessly, the Spanish State, supported by Europe, continues with policies focused on migration control and the denial of the impact of these on the right to life,” the organisation denounces. “The dehumanisation and criminalisation of migrants are at the heart of policies that fail to protect human rights, turning people who cross borders into disposable lives,” he added. Around 70 migrants disappeared at the end of December, including 25 Malians, as a result of the shipwreck in Moroccan territorial waters of a boat on which they were heading to Spain, according to sources from the Government of Mali.

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