Ahmad 
A report issued by the United Nations revealed that migrants and refugees who take migration routes through Africa face deadly risks that are twice as high as those facing them on sea journeys towards Europe.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration participated in the study, noting that serious violations such as kidnapping, sexual exploitation, and violence have become common on these roads.
The Special Envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Western and Central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, presented the findings of the report in Geneva, based on interviews that included more than 30,000 migrants.
Cochetel explained that many migrants were left to their fate in the desert, where the living, the dead and the sick were left without help.
Cochetel called for strengthening protection services and search and rescue operations to confront these challenges, stressing the urgent need for the international community not to lose its sense of anger at this level of ongoing violence on these roads.
The report warned of a significant increase in the number of migrants crossing these routes, by up to 200% in 2023 compared to 2020, according to data from Tunisia.
This increase is linked to factors such as local conflicts in the arid Sahel belt, civil war in Sudan, climate change, and racial discrimination along these routes.
Data from the International Organization for Migration show that more than 2,275 deaths or missing cases were recorded in the Mediterranean until June 27, 2024, and the highest death rate is in the central Mediterranean, where nearly 1,200 people died or went missing.
As for migration across the Sahara to North Africa, the International Organization for Migration estimates the victims at more than 800 people, but evidence indicates that the number of victims of migration across the Sahara is greater than the number of victims of migration across the Mediterranean during the year 2024, despite the lack of clear numbers
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