The migrant death toll in the Mediterranean on the Libya-Europe route rose sharply in 2018, from one death per 38 arrivals in 2017 to one death per 14 arrivals last year, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in its report titled "Desperate Journeys."
Aid groups fear that some 170 migrants could be dead after two dinghies sank in separate incidents after leaving Libya and Morocco. Italian President Sergio Mattarella has expressed his "deep sorrow."
Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has voted in favor of declaring four additional countries "safe countries of origin." However, the Bundesrat, the upper house, still has to ratify the decision. The addition of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Georgia to list of safe nations is not without controversy.
Morocco has called on Spanish authorities to help it slow migrant flows and increase checks at the southern European border, in part by offering training programs and post-graduate courses in Spain.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that 111,558 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2018 through 16 December. At least 2,217 people were reported dead.
The fight against illegal immigration in Spain was at the center of a meeting between Spanish Premier Pedro Sanchez and his Moroccan counterpart Saadeddine Othmani on the sidelines of an intergovernmental conference on migration organized by the UN in Marrakech.
The UN agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that nearly 111,000 migrants reached Europe by sea in 2018. The Mediterranean is the deadliest route for migrants traveling to Europe with 2,160 victims registered so far this year, the IOM said.
UN member states have adopted the UN's controversial migration compact at a conference in Morocco. A number of countries have refused to sign the nonbinding accord, among them the US.
The Moroccan government is expected to send 20,000 women as seasonal workers to Spain to pick strawberries and red fruits in 2019 - a 20 percent increase compared to this year. The women who will be selected have to fulfill certain criteria. They can't be over 39, unmarried or childless.
Criticized by many European countries, the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration presents migration in a positive light and proposes to improve the rights of migrants and the duties of host countries while combating illegal migration.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged greater cooperation on migration on his first visit to Morocco, calling on the North African country to increase efforts to curb undocumented migration.
The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off the coast of Barbate, Cadiz, has climbed to 18 after five bodies were recovered last night near Los Caños de Meca. A total of 22 people have been rescued, while an estimated six others remain missing.