Slightly more than 59,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy so far this year by crossing the Mediterreanean, according to Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese. About 79,000 people are currently being hosted in the national reception system.
Late on Tuesday, October 19, the private rescue yacht Nadir was able to disembark the 34 migrants it had rescued almost two days before. Another 412 migrants are still waiting on board the Sea-Watch 3 ship to be assigned a safe port at which to disembark.
Irregular migration to Europe is on the rise again, as the number of Afghan arrivals continues to grow in particular, many of whom come by boat from Turkey. The EU has reportedly reached its highest level of migrants setting of from Turkey since the start of the pandemic 18 months ago.
Another group of mainly sub-Saharan migrants has been saved off the Canary Islands. The number of sea arrivals has risen once again and Spanish rescue officials are working around the clock.
The last remaining migrants and refugees left the Ocean Viking on Tuesday. The rescue ship had landed in Pozzallo, southern Italy, on Sunday with 549 rescuees onboard.
Migration paths to Europe can take many shapes and are always full of risk and danger. But for stateless people, migration entails countless added layers of difficulty.
Italy has called for the introduction of a redistribution mechanism of migrants among EU member states once more. For weeks, hundreds of migrants have been arriving in the country daily.
A record number of migrants have crossed the English Channel from France on a single day, pushing annual figures beyond last year's numbers. At least 482 people made the trip across the Channel in the latest instance.
The NGO-operated migrant rescue ship Geo Barents has been released from the Sicilian port of Augusta. It had been impounded by the Italian coastguard last month, citing technical irregularities.
Following a week of political upheaval, Tunisia's president made allegations saying that agents opposed to democracy were paying youth in the country to embark on dangerous migrations. He did not, however, specify who he meant to address with that comment.
According to a report by the Italian statistics bureau ISTAT, the pandemic caused a decrease in migration to Italy in 2020.
Lebanese police say they have again prevented dozens of Syrians from reaching Cyprus by sea. Over the past year, there have been numerous attempts to smuggle migrants to the small EU member state.