Switzerland - IOM Director General William Lacy Swing has called for the world to join forces to end the unconscionable scale of deaths of migrants as they seek safety across the globe.

“Saving lives is one urgent step,” said the IOM chief, speaking in Hungary on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Summit Regional Consultation for Europe and Others. “But what the world needs now is concerted action, just like it achieved to end the scourge of piracy off the Somali coast.”

The Budapest consultative conference is in preparation for the UN’s World Humanitarian Summit, which will take place next year in Istanbul.

Ambassador Swing used the gathering of delegates from some 50 countries, as well as IOM’s long term collaborators UNHCR, UNOCHA and the European Union, to call for resources to be mobilized and concerted action to occur to eradicate the humanitarian emergency resulting from the smuggling of migrants worldwide. IOM also is planning to convene a global conference to galvanize international action to save migrants’ lives.

“We should start by focusing law enforcement against the criminal gangs who prey on migrants, but we also need to create safe channels for desperate migrants seeking sanctuary. They include asylum seekers fleeing Islamic fundamentalist terror, political oppression or vulnerable migrants being trafficked or otherwise abused.”

“The loss of over 5,000 lives on land and at sea in 2014 constitutes a humanitarian emergency – one which remains hidden in plain sight,” the IOM Director General said. IOM’s Missing Migrants project counted 5,017 fatalities in 2014, the second year in which IOM has compiled a global survey of migrants who perished.

Winter weather has created a lull in the numbers of migrants arriving on Italy’s shores so far this year, but the conflict in Syria and Iraq, chaos in Libya and emergencies across Africa are expected to fuel a deadly “sailing season” as soon as the weather improves.

The phenomenon of migrants dying en route is global in nature. So far in 2015, IOM researchers have confirmed the deaths of over 100 migrants during the month of January – compared to just 26 during the same period a year ago – from migrants drowning in the Caribbean Sea, to the over 60 migrants who already have died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean.

Other deadly hot spots include South East Asia, where IOM counts some 50 migrants perished last month, and Southern Africa, where two migrants this month reportedly drowned trying to cross the Limpopo River bordering Zimbabwe and South Africa –  the same border crossing where in 2014 crocodiles devoured more than a dozen migrants.

“The spotlight is shining brightest on Europe, which has become a leading destination for migrants and asylum seekers, but we must also focus on the vast oceans in Asia, and on dangerous road, river, rail and mountain crossings in the Americas and the Middle East,” said Ambassador Swing.

Migrants suffer these terrible deaths because they lack safe alternatives and fall victim to criminal gangs –  many are also kidnapped or coerced into dangerous journeys – in their desperation to bypass increasingly secure borders.

“The migrants fleeing for safer lives are not criminals and deserve the same protections as everyone else,” said Mr Swing, calling on partners and IOM Member States to change the lens through which irregular migration –  and the deaths that result from it –  are seen.

“We need a global coalition of the willing to put an end to these deaths,” said Mr. Swing. “This will involve supporting migrants by offering alternatives, bringing closure to the numerous families who have lost loved ones and do not know where or how they died, and helping to stamp out the smugglers’ exploitation of some of the most vulnerable people you will find.”

“We understand smuggling is a serious crime against humanity, and we want the perpetrators to be prosecuted,” said Mr. Swing.

IOM stands ready to help manage migrants’ safe passage, starting in the migrants’ countries of origin, in transit countries and in assisting destination countries in their work integrating migrants after their arrival.

The Director General reminded delegates that there is much to do beyond law enforcement and prosecution. “Countries, not only in Europe, must start opening significant additional labor migration channels and more resettlement opportunities, and agree to larger resettlement quotas,” Mr. Swing said.

IOM advocates for the establishment of Migrant Resource Centers in North Africa and elsewhere where migrants and asylum seekers headed towards the departure points of most deadly sea voyages to Europe could find alternatives to embarking on dangerous sea or desert journeys.

IOM offices in over 150 countries will gather, analyze and map all data on smuggling routes, patterns and practices to share with stakeholders in government, NGOs and the private sector. A global IOM conference to be held in mid-2016 will review progress on the ambitious agenda and direct future efforts.

The Budapest meeting is one of eight regional gatherings to prepare for 2016’s World Humanitarian Summit, which will take place in Istanbul. It will bring together European and other delegates, including those from Mediterranean states such as Malta, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Spain, where a rise in people-smuggling from the Middle East and North Africa has resulted in the deaths of close to 5,000 migrants since 2013, according IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.

“There is before us an urgent need. We know what to do,” Director General Swing said. “We simply must have the political courage to do it.”

For more information about the World Humanitarian Summit Regional Consultations for Europe and Others, please go to: http://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/whs_eog

For further information, please contact

Joel Millman

IOM HQ

Tel + 41 79 103 8720

Email: jmillman@iom.int