At least 951 people died while attempting to reach Spain on small boats in the first half of 2023, most of them on their way to the Canary Islands and the Algerian Route on the Spanish Eastern coast (Levante) and the Balearic Islands, a new report from an NGO revealed on Thursday.
Another 50 people have perished trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and 21 more on crossings along the Alboran Sea route (in the westernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea), a report by the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) warned.
The report “Right to Life Monitoring” warns that some of the routes, “especially the Canary Islands route”, are increasing “their lethal capacity”, even though the official figures reflect a decrease in the number of arrivals by small boats.
From 1 January to 30 June, 12,192 people arrived in Spain in small inflatable boats, 4.17% fewer than in 2022. Of these, 4,865 went to the Strait of Gibraltar, the Alboran Sea and the Balearic Islands (29.2 % more) and 7.213 to the Canary Route (18.5 % less), a new study by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior shows.
Caminando Fronteras regularly warns the authorities of the departures of small boats in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
It has counted 49 tragedies in small boats bound for Spain in the last six months: 28 in the Canary Islands, eleven in the Strait of Gibraltar, eight in the Algerian Route and two in the Alboran Sea, in which at least 112 women and 49 children have perished.
The deadliest month was June, with 332 victims, followed by February with 237, January with 138 and April with 130. In 14 cases, the vessels involved in these tragedies disappeared, and their occupants were “lost”.
Chaotic rescue operations
In the first half of the year, citizens from 14 countries died in small boats off the Spanish coasts, according to the report. They came from Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Ethiopia, Comoros Islands, Mali, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Syria, Sri Lanka and Sudan.
But the study goes beyond counting the number of lives lost and analyses what happens on the different routes, with critical conclusions for Spain and Morocco.
The number of deaths and “missing” people on the maritime routes to Spain is increasing (according to its count, there are 13 more than in the first half of 2022) even though the flow of small boats has been reduced because, on occasions, the necessary search resources are not put in place, or rescue operations are activated with delays, the NGO warned.
Caminando Fronteras denounces the “poor coordination between the countries that must activate rescue services”. “In the case of Spain and Morocco, coordination is not based on the right to life, but on bilateral negotiations on migration control”, the report reads.
‘Institutional racism’ in Spain and Morocco
As an example of poor or total lack of coordination, the NGO cites the case of a shipwreck of a small rubber boat found on 21 June some 160 kilometres south of Gran Canaria, in which 36 people died, with only two bodies recovered.
The day before, at around 8pm, a Spanish plane had located it, and at that time, there was a rescue boat, the Guardamar Calíope, rescuing another boat just 46 kilometres away, an hour’s sailing time.
Spain handed over the coordination of that operation to Morocco, whose patrol boat did not arrive until 10 hours later when the small boat had already broken up, Caminando Fronteras stressed.
“Spain prioritises the transfer of responsibility to Morocco over the protection of life. The Spanish rescue services were closer, with more resources and, despite the fact that the deaths could have been avoided, they withdrew so that Morocco could assume coordination”, the NGO stated.
“This only applies to migrants, but not when other groups, such as fishermen or people on pleasure yachts, are at risk”, it lamented.
The NGO also speaks of “institutional racism” based on the treatment suffered, for example, by the occupants of a boat rescued in May south of Gran Canaria, who reported on disembarking that they had been shot at on their way out, at Cape Boujdour, and that two of their companions had died, badly wounded, on the crossing.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
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