Extreme Horrors Faced by Migrants and Refugees on Land Routes to Africa’s Mediterranean Coast. The new report released by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), emphasises how “Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, human rights violations and exploitation not just at sea, but also on land routes across the African continent, towards its Mediterranean coastline”.
The title of the new report is explanatory: “On This Journey, No One Cares if You Live or Die: Abuse, Protection and Justice along Routes between East and West Africa and Africa’s Mediterranean Coast”; it covers three years of data collection and signals an increase in the number of people attempting these jouneys with the associated risks.
The release announcing the publication of the new report also states: “Among the litany of risks and abuses reported by refugees and migrants are torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, death, kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence and exploitation, enslavement, human trafficking, forced labour, organ removal, robbery, arbitrary detention, collective expulsions and refoulement”, and also: “Criminal gangs and armed groups are reported as the main perpetrators of these abuses, in addition to security forces, police, military, immigration officers and border guards”.
EUMiCare project purpose is to support migrants and refugees, who may have experienced trauma and still be in difficulty once they arrive in the host country, by strengthening the capacity of professionals to respond to their mental health needs.