Over 1000 Migrant Children Dead or Missing in Five Years

Over 1,600 children died or disappeared between 2014 and 2018 trying to emigrate either alone or accompanied to a better place, according to a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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The UN report warned that the real figure may rise and that, once afresh, the migratory routes of the central and western Mediterranean Sea appear to be the cause of the greatest number of deaths.

'Tragically, it has recently become clear that children are among the most vulnerable groups of migrants,' said Frank Laczko, IOM Data Analysis Center director.

'The lack of information regarding age, characteristics and vulnerability of migrant girls and boys creates serious protection gaps and makes it difficult to create programs and policies designed to protect them,' he added.

The number of children is part of the 32,000 dead or missing migrants registered in the same period, although the IOM reiterates the data are incomplete, and the number of reported child victims is less than that of adults.

Such information is compiled in an annual report issued since 2014 by the IOM Migrants Disappeared Project, which this year had the collaboration of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).