‘On this journey, no one cares if you live or die’

Refugees and migrants, including Bangladeshis, continue to face extreme forms of violence, human rights violations, and exploitation on land and sea routes through the African continent towards its Mediterranean coastline.

The information was disclosed in a report titled "On This Journey, No-one Cares If You Live or Die" (volume 2), which was released by UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration and Mixed Migration Centre yesterday.

Risks and abuses reported by refugees and migrants include torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, death, kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence and exploitation, enslavement, human trafficking, forced labour, organ removal, and robbery, alongside collective expulsions and refoulement, said the report.

It also said at least 1,180 people died while crossing the Sahara between January 2020 and May 2024, but the number could be much higher.

During the same period, around 7,115 people were reported to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea, it adds.

The report states that the Central Mediterranean route starts in East and West Africa and the Horn of Africa, leading to the Mediterranean.

It also said people from many countries, including Bangladesh, travel through Dubai, Istanbul, or Cairo to reach the route's North Africa section, which leads through the desert to and through Maghreb countries, where people reach their destination or move towards the European Union, crossing the sea.

The report builds on data collected by IOM, MMC, and UNHCR from January 2020 to March 2023, for which refugees from a total of 59 different countries were interviewed.

Also, 66 percent of respondents who were interviewed in or transited through Libya reported the country to be risky, followed by Ethiopia (62 percent), Algeria (55 percent), and Guinea (33 percent), among other countries.

The report says the main departure points to cross the Mediterranean Sea include the coastal cities of Zuwara and Misratah in Libya and Sfax in Tunisia.

People traditionally start their sea voyage from Libya to go to Italy, but during the first half of 2023, people departed from Tunisia more, with a 137 percent increase from 2022.

In 2022, the most common nationalities entering Europe through the Northern Africa region were Egyptian, Tunisian, and Bangladeshi.

For January-August 2023, the main nationalities arriving in Italy were Guinean (14 percent), Ivorian (13 percent), Tunisian (11 percent), Egyptian (7 percent), Bangladeshi (7 percent), and Pakistani (6 percent).

Among the top ten nationalities arriving in Italy through the Central Mediterranean route during 2018-2022, Syrians had a 95.23 percent asylum application acceptance rate, followed by Sudanese (83.25 percent).

By contrast, the "protection rate" of Bangladeshis was lower (13.40 percent).

In a joint statement, the organisations called for concrete, route-based protection responses to save lives and reduce suffering, as well as a push to address the root causes of displacement and drivers of irregular movements.