hundreds of people are reported to have died in recent weeks alone on dangerous and unregulated sea passages.
The High-Level Meeting to Address Unsafe Mixed Migration by Sea is being hosted at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Headquarters in London and aims to facilitate dialogue and promote enhanced cooperation and harmonization between United Nations agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, Governments and the shipping industry.
It has been agreed that a mechanism will be established, to enhance inter-agency communication with respect to the maritime aspects of mixed migration. The meeting is also discussing joint projects, for example, the establishment of joint databases to share and collate information and statistics on irregular movements and suspect vessels; quantifying the effects of irregular and unsafe crossings on the shipping industry; and improving maritime situational awareness.
IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said that the issue of mixed migration by sea, including irregular migration, had, in recent years, reached epidemic proportions, to the extent where the whole system for coping with such migrants was being stretched up to, and sometimes beyond, its breaking point.
History has shown that migrants contribute to economic growth and human development in both home and host countries and can enrich societies by bringing cultural diversity. However, the sheer size and scale of situation in Europe and elsewhere today is threatening to jeopardise long-established humanitarian principles surrounding search and rescue and the treatment of people rescued from the sea.
In 2014, more than 200,000 people were rescued and more than 3,000 people are reported to have died in unsafe, irregular and illegal sea passages on the Mediterranean alone.
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