ECHOES N°15 – 10 YEARS OF STRUGGLE

10 YEARS OF STRUGGLE!

In 2025, several civil sea rescue organizations will look back to the last 10 years of their fight for safe passage. 2025 is also 10 years since the historic summer of migration. The memories of these months of hard-won freedom of movement from Athens to Stockholm and with demonstrations of welcome all over Europe appear today as something from another time and world.

Yet through the chains of migration these struggles are closely linked to current refugee and migration movements and are likely an important factor in their ongoing tenacity and assertiveness. In the Central Mediterranean fewer people were able to reach Italy this last year compared to record numbers in 2023. In the eastern and in the western Mediterranean/Atlantic regions the numbers have increased once more. In total, a remarkable number of about 200,000 people reached the southern European coasts in 2024.

In 2024:

• 65,474 people arrived in Italy and Malta by sea, many of whom arrived autonomously (UNHCR figures up to December 29)

• 12,410 people were rescued by the civil fleet from more than 240 boats in distress (CMRCC figure up to December 31).

• 21,470 people were pushed back to Libya after they were intercepted by the EU-supported so-called Libyan Coast Guard (IOM figure up to December 28).

• 1,689 people have been reported dead or missing on the Central Mediterranean Route (IOM figure up to December 28).
  

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