Greece - Over 172,000 migrants and refugees have arrived by sea to Europe through the first weekend of April, according to IOM. These figures include small numbers of migrants arriving in Cyprus and Spain, as well as the busier routes connecting Turkey to Greece and North Africa to Italy.

Arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean

IOM estimates that 714 people have died in the Mediterranean so far this year, which exceeds by more than 200 the 489 fatalities of migrants and refugees reported through the same period (1 January-5 April) in 2015, an increase of nearly 50 percent.

Last year was the deadliest on record for migrant deaths on the Mediterranean, with 3,770 recorded for all of 2015. Over 1,700 of those fatalities were reported during the year’s first four months, and April was 2015’s deadliest month by far.

Although that month’s first fatality was not recorded until after April 5 last year, 1,244 migrants and refugees lost their lives on the Mediterranean over the following 25 days, an average of almost 50 per day. For the year, over 600 men, women and, especially, children perished on the Eastern Mediterranean route and over 3,000 in the waters between Italy and North Africa.

IOM has recorded no deaths on the Eastern Mediterranean since the start of implementation last week of a new migrant agreement between Turkey and European Union that allows for return of those arriving on the Greek islands. Through the first 15 days since the signing of the agreement, arrival numbers have fallen from recent months, and were much lower than the peak arrival numbers recorded last summer.

But despite deportations of failed asylum seekers to Turkey, which began from Lesbos and Chios yesterday (4/4), migrants and refugees have continued to arrive in Greece through the past two weeks. However numbers have fallen from roughly 1,500 a day in January to 300-400 at the end of March.

An estimated 152,137 migrants and refugees have arrived in Greece from Turkey by sea and 1,013 by land in 2016, according to IOM. The Greek Coast Guard says that roughly 50 percent of the new arrivals are from Syria and 25 percent from Afghanistan.

January was the deadliest month of 2016 so far. During the month, over 100 people drowned between Greece and Turkey, a third of them children.

The Central Mediterranean route has become deadlier this year with the onset of spring. Last week IOM’s Libya team reported over 170 deaths from two shipwrecks in late March. IOM Libya reported 84 migrants – all thought to be sub-Saharan Africans – were lost on March 28. Two days later, another 89 migrants perished in a shipwreck in which there were several dozen survivors.

IOM is trying to help migrants stranded in Libya. It has trained staff from 35 Libyan NGOs and civil society organizations since September 2014. It also conducts needs assessments for targeted distribution at priority locations, host communities and especially detention centers, particularly in the southern and south-western parts of the country. These assessments identify the needs and vulnerabilities of migrants, with particular focus on women and children.

In response to the needs of migrants in detention centers, IOM provides non-food items and hygiene kits. Since 2014 it has distributed these to 12,868 stranded migrants in all Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) detention centers in Zwara, Gharyan, Al Zawyah, Surman, Sabratah, Al Guwea, Al-Khums, Gharyan-Aburshada, Abu Sleem, Misrata, Al-Marsa (coastguards), Zleitin, Abu Sleem, Salah-Eldine and Suq Al-Ahed.

Through referral and outreach campaigns developed under other IOM return programs in Libya, the IOM office in Tripoli and its local partners contact embassies and heads of DCIM-run migrant detention centers.

IOM provides counselling to inform detained migrants about the modalities of possible humanitarian repatriation back to their home countries and about the reintegration assistance available to them. 

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic please go to:
http://missingmigrants.iom.int/mediterranean-update-5-april-2016

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean,please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe 
Learn more about Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For further information please contact IOM Greece. Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email:  iomathens@iom.int or Kelly Namia, Tel: +302109919040, +302109912174, Email: knamia@iom.int
Or Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya, Tel: +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int or Ashraf Hassan, Email: ashassan@iom.int
Or Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
Or Ivona Zakoska at IOM Skopje, Tel. +389 2 30 88 100, Ext. 133 Email: izakoska@iom.int
Or IOM Geneva, Leonard Doyle, Tel: +41-792857123, Email: ldoyle@iom.intor Joel Millman, Tel: + 41 79 103 87 20, Email: jmillman@iom.int