A ship with 57 migrants onboard arrives at La Restinga port on the Canary island of El Hierro, on September 14, 2024.
Antonio Sempere/AFP through Getty Photographs
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Antonio Sempere/AFP through Getty Photographs
SEVILLE, Spain — The Atlantic migration route that connects West African nations with the Spanish Canary Islands set a brand new document in 2024, with at the least 46,843 arrivals to the Spanish archipelago, in line with yearly figures launched by Spain’s Inside Ministry. The quantity surpassed final 12 months’s earlier document, and represents a 17% enhance.
The quantity, launched Thursday in a report from Spain’s Inside Ministry, comes regardless of continued efforts by the Spanish authorities and the European Union to deal with the migration disaster. Spain and the EU have sought to offer support to international locations of origin to assist spur improvement and management the departure of migrants.
Migrants usually journey greater than 1,000 miles by sea to achieve the Canary Islands. Senegal and Mauritania are two of the commonest launching factors for migrants, who come from quite a few international locations within the African continent to flee armed battle, poverty, or lack of alternative. In 2024, a small variety of migrants from Southeast Asian international locations additionally reached the Spanish archipelago, elevating considerations that the lethal route, removed from deterring them, might be attracting migrants from different continents.
A member of the emergency providers carries just a little baby, a part of a gaggle of 175 migrant individuals who arrived on board a ship, at Restinga port on the Canary island of El Hierro on August 18, 2024.
Antonio Sempere/AFP through Getty Photographs
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Antonio Sempere/AFP through Getty Photographs
The Atlantic migration route is among the deadliest on the planet. The Spanish support group Caminando Fronteras (Strolling Borders) assessed on a latest report that over 10,000 migrants died final 12 months attempting to achieve the Canary Islands by sea.
Final 12 months’s enhance within the variety of migrants reaching the Canary Islands was highlighted by the arrival of almost 2,000 migrants within the final days of 2024. The information of 69 migrants dying after a ship sank on Dec. 19, in line with Malian authorities, was a reminder of the hazard this migration route represents.
The variety of migrant arrivals within the Canary Islands has overwhelmed the native authorities, and has sparked a nationwide debate concerning the dealing with of the greater than 5,500 minors who’re at the moment held in authorities amenities. Negotiations over the relocation of those minors to the Spanish mainland have been ongoing, however nationwide events are in a gridlock over the passage of recent laws that can decide how minors are distributed throughout the 16 different autonomous areas of Spain.
