- Title: Drop in migrants deaths in Mediterranean may flag sounder policy - IOM
- Date: 24th May 2016
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MAY 24, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING UN BRIEFING IN PROGRESS JOURNALISTS AND UN STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION SPOKESPERSON, JOEL MILLMAN, SAYING: "We recorded 1,370 deaths on the Mediterranean so far this year, which is of course an awful number, but it is actually 25% below what we saw through this time last year. And, just as a point of reference, 13 deaths on all Mediterranean routes this year in May, compares to 330 in May of 2014 and 95 during May last year, so a considerable drop. And even more important, none of the deaths that occurred, none of the 13 that we know of that occurred in the Mediterranean in the month of May, occurred in the so-called Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece." CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION SPOKESPERSON, JOEL MILLMAN, SAYING: "Obviously, now that the Turkey-Greece route appears suspended for the time being, we hope that this is the start, the beginning of a sound management policy of refugees and migrants who wish to make the crossing and don't take these enormous risks." JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION SPOKESPERSON, JOEL MILLMAN, SAYING: "It is possible, and I want to stress that it is possible, that the period of stark lethality that has been going on since 2013 may have run its course by now. Maybe we will see a safer summer than we had anticipated a few weeks ago." UN BUILDING
- Embargoed: 8th June 2016 12:01
- Keywords: migrants refugees Mediterranean Sea migration policy IOM Turkey Greece
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0014J62WQV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fewer migrants are dying as they cross the Mediterranean Sea, which may reflect better policies for managing the flow of people, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday (May 24).
"We recorded 1,370 deaths on the Mediterranean so far this year, which is of course an awful number, but it is actually 25% below what we saw through this time last year," the IOM's spokesperson Joel Millman told reporters during a news briefing in Geneva.
"And, just as a point of reference, 13 deaths on all Mediterranean routes this year in May, compares to 330 in May of 2014 and 95 during May last year, so a considerable drop. And even more important, none of the deaths that occurred, none of the 13 that we know of that occurred in the Mediterranean in the month of May, occurred in the so-called Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece," he added.
Millman insisted that the drop in the number of fatalities was linked to a sharp drop in arrivals from Turkey in Greece.
"Obviously, now that the Turkey-Greece route appears suspended for the time being, we hope that this is the start, the beginning of a sound management policy of refugees and migrants who wish to make the crossing and don't take these enormous risks," he said.
The IOM spokesperson also said that they were anticipating a safer summer thanks to the decreasing number of people making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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