The United Nations Children's Fund “UNICEF” revealed the number of child victims who drowned while crossing the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe during irregular migration journeys in the first half of this year 2023.

According to the organization in a report published last Friday, 289 children drowned in the Mediterranean Sea during the first six months of this year, noting that this number is double the figure recorded in the first half of 2022.

The UN organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland, called for expanding safe, legal, and facilitated pathways for children to obtain protection in Europe.

In the same context, Verina Knaus, Director of the Migration and Displacement Section at UNICEF, estimated that the actual death toll is higher, confirming that many shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean do not have survivors.

She also explained that “the number of children who died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe doubled in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year,” considering that these deaths could have been completely avoided.

According to Knaus, UNICEF estimates that in the first six months of this year, approximately 11,600 children crossed the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe.

It is worth mentioning that in the first three months of 2023, 3,300 unaccompanied or separated children were recorded crossing, equivalent to 71% of the total children arriving in Europe via the Mediterranean, and this number is three times higher than what was recorded in the same period last year 2022.