To read the full report in English and in French languages

Executive Summary

Every year, civil society and international organizations highlight the number of persons missing in the course of migration. Organizations such as United for Intercultural Action have counted 60,620 migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe between 1993 and 2024. Other international organizations such as IOM, through its “Missing Migrants Project “, have identified more than 69,353 migrants missing between 2014 and 2024 worldwide, including 30,628 people in the Mediterranean basin.

These figures are lower than the reality due to many undocumented disappearances and the constant non-involvement of States in identifying and searching for missing persons. Behind these figures, which are somehow cold and mechanical, the objective of civil society is to highlight the disastrous security policies of States in terms of migration, which endanger human lives.

For some states, however, this data is used to justify further border closures. In addition, States hold smugglers responsible for the disappearances that have occurred, naming them as the main culprits. Missing migrants are denied the right to a dignified death. Their families relentlessly search for their loved ones, sometimes for years, making mourning impossible and reunion increasingly unlikely.

We, the civil society organizations, wish to submit an analysis report (in French and English), attached herewith, on the phenomenon of missing migrants, in response to the call for contributions for the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council; specifically to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. This report covers the countries of the Mediterranean and West Africa. For further information and numbers on this contribution click on attached links in report.

List of submitted NGOs to UN:

Association Marocaine d’Aide aux Migrants en Situation Vulnérable (AMSV) ; Association Marocaine des Droits Humains (AMDH) ; Association des Mères de Migrants Disparus ; Cedar Centre for Legal Studies ; Collectif des Familles des Jeunes Marocains Portés Disparus et Détenus aux Frontières ; Defenders of the Rights of Migrants and Refugees in Libya ; EuroMed Rights ; Last Rights ; OGLM-Guinée ; Missing Voices (REER) ; Mem Med : Mémoire Méditerranée ; The International Association of Revival of Nelson Mandela ; Watch the Med Alarm Phone.