© Francesco Malavolta 2014
International Migrants Day 2014: Saving Migrants Lives
By William Lacy Swing, IOM Director General
On International Migrants Day 2014, December 18th, IOM Director General William Lacy Swing is calling for urgent action to save the lives of migrants and stop smugglers from exploiting their desperation to extort huge sums of money.
IOM data shows that the number of migrants dying on dangerous journeys in the hope of finding better lives for themselves and their families, is rising.
Italian Coast Guard rescue operation © Francesco Malavolta
Interview with Admiral Pettorino, Italian Coast Guard: “Saving Lives is Our Only Concern”
By Flavio Di Giacomo
For the men working in the Control Centre of the Coast Guard in Rome, there is no difference between night and day. In this high-tech room there are no windows – only rows of computers and screens displaying maps of the Mediterranean Sea (and the world) and the positions of military and commercial ships. This room controls the Coast Guard’s rescue operations at sea – hour by hour, without any interruption.
“When we work here, we have only one mission in mind: to save lives and not to miss any emergency call,” says Rear Admiral Giovanni Pettorino, Chief of Operations at the Italian Harbourmaster Corps (Coast Guard) in Rome. “We are dealing with a huge phenomenon: more than 165,000 migrants reached the Italian shores this year – almost three times more than last year when arrivals were 42,925. And this is something that we predict is going to continue. We have never seen so many arrivals.”
Sandra Reyes retells her harrowing journey from El Salvador to the United States © ChPImages/Chporcel
Hell Ride in a Truck: Sandra’s Story
By Niurka Pineiro
Sandra tells in graphic, gruesome detail the pain and degradation that a migrant who’s desperate to start a new life somewhere has to undergo. It’s more painful to see these images in one’s mind than the scenes we see in the movies because these weren’t based on a true story. This is the true story.
Eighteen years ago, when Sandra Reyes was just 20, she accepted a relative’s offer to help her migrate to the United States. She left home in May of 1996 and arrived in Houston, Texas two months later. But what happened in between is a nightmare she would rather forget than retell. She only retells this to warn others who, like her, want to migrate at any cost. . . . so they could have an idea of what the costs really are.
Never Again: A Returnee’s Resolution
By Erin Bowser
Lavan got his second chance at a videography business
Lavan Sigavnanam returned from Benin, West Africa to Colombo, Sri Lanka in July 2012 as part of IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programme for West Africa.
Prior to leaving Sri Lanka, the 32-year-old videographer ran a small studio with a friend. He was living with his parents and aunt at the time.
One day, Lavan was approached by one of his friends who mentioned the opportunity to work in Canada via a backdoor. He did not hesitate to take the risk, believing it would be more economical and would make things easier for him – rather than having to produce all required official documents. He handed over USD6,000 as a down payment to the agent.
Migrants, most of whom can't swim, wade towards a smuggler's boat on a Somali beach
Mixed Migration in the Horn of Africa
By T. Craig Murphy, IOM Kenya, with Ismael Ali, IOM Bosasso
The closest geographic point from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula is a strait connecting the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea known as “Bab-el-Mandeb”, which in Arabic means “The Gateway of Anguish.” Legend says that the name derives from the dangerous maritime navigation and the many lives claimed by the sea. At this point, it is only 30 kilometres from Djibouti to Yemen. Historically and contemporarily, this is the location from where large numbers of migrants move out of Africa for a variety of reasons.
Today, most of the migrants plying this route are from Ethiopia and Somalia, but other nationalities from the Horn of Africa compose these mixed migratory flows. A variety of factors – including security, legislation affecting migrant workers, difficulty or ease of crossing borders, viability of other irregular migratory routes, and weather – impact the migrant flows from the Horn of Africa to Yemen and other Gulf Coast Countries.
