VAM News Update

During the first half of the year, 289 boys and girls died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, or double the number compared to the same period in 2022, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Friday. 

The figure is equivalent to about 11 children dying each week, “far beyond what we hear in news headlines,” Vera Knaus, the agency’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement, told journalists attending the biweekly UN humanitarian briefing in Geneva.

“We cannot continue to ignore what is happening – stand by silently when nearly 300 children – an entire plane full of children – are dying in the waters between Europe and Africa in just six months,” she said.

Conflict and climate change are forcing increasing numbers of children to embark on the dangerous sea journey from North Africa to Europe.