The number of migrants killed in the overseas journey between Libya and Europe has tripled in a year, the Red Cross reported. At least 792 people died in the first half of this year, three times as many as in the same period last year.
According to the aid organization, the real number of victims is probably higher, because many people are still missing. After a relatively quiet 2020, harrowing situations, such as in Afghanistan and the Ethiopian state, have Tigray, make many people flee, says the Red Cross.
Teams from the International Red Cross will soon be joining the crew of the Ocean Viking aid organization SOS Méditerranée. Migrants who are taken off boats are provided with basic necessities on that ship and receive medical and psychological support.
The Red Cross is launching the ‘Kilometers for Opportunities’ campaign to raise money to provide migrants with medical aid, clean drinking water, shelter and food during their journey. It is the intention that participants cycle, walk, run or rollerblade to cover as many kilometers as possible and to be sponsored for this. According to the Red Cross, the kilometers they cover symbolize the distance that eighty million refugees have to travel every year.
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