The UNHCR has sent out a stirring appeal to expand its humanitarian response along key migration routes to Europe, where migrants are confronting unimaginable challenges and dire circumstances, stressing the need for a unified and compassionate response to alleviate their suffering.
To tackle the deepening crisis, Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR’s special envoy, stressed the importance of interagency collaboration and appealed to donor countries to provide a substantial financial boost.
“This includes better access to legal pathways to safety and improving protection services for victims, as well as those at risk of becoming victims along the routes,” Cochetel said in Geneva.
The UNHCR’s latest findings reveal a perilous migration trend, with hundreds of thousands of individuals annually fleeing war, poverty, and persecution in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The UNHCR warns that countless migrants embark on this treacherous journey with a false sense of security, oblivious to the perils that lie ahead, including the unforgiving desert terrain and precarious border crossings, which claim countless lives and leave many more vulnerable to egregious human rights abuses.
“Many don’t go to capital cities where humanitarian actors are based and well represented,” Cochetel said.
“They embark to secondary routes, reaching smaller cities in hard-to-reach areas” including in the Sahara Desert.
It was recommended that services be positioned in this precise location.
“This is where services should be located.”
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According to the UNHCR, a disproportionate 75% of the world’s refugee population – exceeding 81 million individuals – reside in low- and middle-income countries, placing significant pressure on already limited resources.
New data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reveals that a staggering 280 million people, equivalent to 3.6% of the global population, are living outside their home countries, highlighting the unprecedented scale of international migration.