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UN: Nearly 300 children died while crossing the Mediterranean

2023-07-14 15:17:17, Kosova & Bota CNA

UN: Nearly 300 children died while crossing the Mediterranean

The United Nations said 289 children have died during the first half of 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

This figure is double the number of deaths recorded in the same period in 2022, the UN children's agency UNICEF said. This agency requested that children seeking protection in Europe be offered safe passage.

Venera Knaus, UNICEF's head of migration and displacement, said the real figures are likely to be higher because shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean often leave no survivors or are not recorded.

"The number of children who have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe has doubled in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year," she said.

"In the first six months of this year, we estimate that 11,600 children have crossed the sea - again, almost twice as many as in the same period in 2022."

UNICEF said that in the first three months of 2023, nearly 3,300 children – 71 percent of all children who reached Europe via the Mediterranean route – were unaccompanied or separated from their families.

This figure is also three times higher than in the previous year.

"These children need to know that they are not alone. World leaders must immediately act to show that children's lives are valuable, act towards an effective solution to this situation", said Knaus./ REL





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