A decade of documenting more than 63,000 migrant deaths shows that fleeing is more lethal than ever

BERLIN (AP) — More than a decade ago, the death of 600 migrants and refugees in two Mediterranean shipwrecks near Italian shores shocked the world and prompted the U.N. migration agency to start recording the number of people who died or went missing as they fled conflict, persecution or poverty to other countries.

Governments around the world have repeatedly pledged to save migrants' lives and fight smugglers while tightening borders. Yet 10 years on, a report by the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project published Tuesday shows the world is no safer for people on the move.

On the contrary, migrant deaths have soared.

Since tracking began in 2014, more than 63,000 have died or are missing and presumed dead, according to the Missing Migrants Project, with 2023 the deadliest year yet.

“The figures are quite alarming,” Jorge Galindo, a spokesperson at IOM's Global Data Institute, told The Associated Press. "We see that 10 years on, people continue to lose their lives in search of a better one.”

FILE - This Feb. 28, 2023 file photo shows the coffins, aligned inside the PalaMilone sports center in Crotone, southern Italy, of the migrants who died after their boat capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Valeria Ferraro, File)

The report says the deaths are "likely only a fraction of the actual number of lives lost worldwide” because of the difficulty in obtaining and verifying information. For example, on the Atlantic route from Africa's west coast to Spain's Canary Islands, entire boats have reportedly vanished in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks.” Similarly, countless deaths in the Sahara desert are believed to go unreported.

Even when deaths are recorded, more than two-thirds of the victims remain unidentified. That can be due to lack of information and resources, or simply because identifying dead migrants is not considered a priority.

Experts have called the growing number of unidentified migrants around the world a crisis comparable to mass casualties seen in wartime.

Behind each nameless death is a family facing “the psychological, social, economic and legal impacts of unresolved disappearances,” a painful phenomenon known as “ambiguous loss,” the report says.

“Governments need to work together with civil society to make sure that the families that are left behind, not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones, can have better access to the remains of people who have died,” Galindo said.

Of the victims whose nationalities were known to IOM, one in three died while fleeing countries in conflict.

FILE - Migrants reach through a border wall for clothing handed out by volunteers, as they wait between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

Nearly 60% of the deaths recorded by the IOM in the last decade were related to drowning. The Mediterranean Sea is the world's largest migrant grave with more than 28,000 deaths recorded in the last decade. Thousands of drownings have also been recorded on the U.S.-Mexico border, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Aden and increasingly in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea where desperate Rohingya refugees are embarking on overcrowded boats.

“Search and rescue capacities to assist migrants at sea must be strengthened, in line with international law and the principle of humanity,” the report says.

Currently on the Mediterranean "the large majority of search and rescue is done by nongovernmental organizations,” Galindo said.

When the Missing Migrants Project began in 2014, European sentiment was more sympathetic to the plight of migrants, and the Italian government had launched “Mare Nostrum,” a major search-and-rescue mission that saved thousands of lives.

But the solidarity didn't last, and European search and rescue missions were progressively cut back after fears that they would encourage smugglers to launch even more people on cheaper and deadlier boats. That's when NGOs stepped in.

Their help has not always been welcomed. In Italy and Greece, they have faced increasing bureaucratic and legal obstacles.

Following the 2015-2016 migration crisis, the European Union began outsourcing border control and sea rescues to North African countries to “save lives” while also keeping migrants from reaching European shores.

FILE - Ethiopian migrants walk on the shores of Ras al-Ara, Lahj, Yemen, after disembarking from a boat, July 26, 2019. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

The controversial partnerships have been criticized by human rights advocates, particularly the one with Libya. EU-trained and funded Libyan coast guards have been linked to human traffickers exploiting migrants who are intercepted and brought back to squalid detention centers. A U.N.-backed group of experts has found that the abuses committed against migrants on the Mediterranean and in Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.

Despite the rise of border walls and heightened surveillance worldwide, smugglers always seem to find lucrative alternatives, leading migrants and refugees on longer and more perilous routes.

“There’s an absence of safe migration options,” Galindo said. "And this needs to change.”

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

FILE - Migrants wait along a border wall Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022, after crossing from Mexico near Yuma, Ariz. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

FILE - Afghan refugees wait to register in a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham, Afghanistan, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - A mortuary technician opens the door of a refrigerator used to store the remains of migrants recovered from a Mauritanian boat that appeared drifting near the island of Tobago, in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

FILE - The lifeless body of an unidentified woman washes up on the shoreline at the village of Skala, on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File)

FILE - Piles of life jackets used by refugees and migrants to cross the Aegean sea from the Turkish coast remain stacked on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File)

FILE - Migrants sit on the deck of the Belgian Navy vessel Godetia after they were saved at sea during a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coasts, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

FILE - This Feb. 27, file photo, 2023 shows part of the debris of a wrecked migrant boat washed ashore after it capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra, File)

FILE - Survivors of a shipwreck sleep in a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, on June 14, 2023. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

FILE - Rain boots are placed on the ground by police officers as they inspect a boat where 15 Malians were found dead adrift in the Atlantic on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Gran Canaria island, Spain. The UN migration agency marks a decade since the launch of the Missing Migrants Project, documenting more than 63,000 deaths around the world. More than two-thirds of victims remain unidentified highlighting the size of the crisis and the suffering of families who rarely receive definitive answers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday as Wall Street waits to hear from the Federal Reserve about where interest rates may be heading.

The S&P 500 was down 0.1% in early trading, coming off its first losing month in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 104 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.

CVS Health tumbled 18.3% after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it’s been hurt by increased costs at its Medicare Advantage business, and it cut its forecast for profit over the full year.

Other big names also dragged on the market following their profit reports, including Starbucks, Advanced Micro Devices and Super Micro Computer. But the focus is on Washington, D.C., where the Federal Reserve will announce its latest move on interest rates in the afternoon.

No one expects the Fed to make any change to its main interest rate, which is sitting at its highest level in 2001 in hopes of grinding down on the economy enough to get inflation under control. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a press conference after the rate announcement, and he could give some guidance about the chances for a cut to rates later this year.

He recently hinted rates may stay high for a while as Fed officials wait for more confirmation inflation is heading down toward their 2% target. That was a disappointment for Wall Street, after the Fed earlier had indicated it was penciling in three cuts to rates during 2024.

Traders had been even more optimistic after coming into the year forecasting six or more cuts to rates. Now, many are betting on the possibility of just one, if any, according to data from CME Group. A string of reports on inflation this year that have come in stubbornly higher than forecast has dashed hopes for multiple rate cuts.

Without the benefit of easing rates, which can goose the economy and investment prices, companies will need to deliver better profits.

Starbucks dropped 15% after falling short of expectations for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Sales trends weakened at its stores outside the United States in particular, and it cut its full-year forecasts for profit and revenue.

Super Micro Computer, which has been one of Wall Street’s hottest stars, gave back 12.2% despite topping expectations for profit. The company, which sells server and storage systems used in AI and other computing, fell shy of analysts’ forecasts for revenue. Expectations had bult up after its stock had already tripled this year amid a broader frenzy on Wall Street around artificial-intelligence technology.

Advanced Micro Devices dropped 6.8% despite reporting profit that matched expectations. Its revenue came in a bit shy of forecasts, as did the midpoint of its forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter.

They helped to offset a 2.9% gain for Amazon, which reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retail behemoth credited reaccelerating growth at its cloud-computing business, in part, as it benefits from demand for AI.

Chemical producer DuPont was another winner, up 8.1%, after reporting stronger profit than expected. It said demand from customers in the semiconductor industry continued to recover.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit ahead of the Fed’s announcement. The yield on the two-year Treasury, though, remained at 5.00% and near its highest level since November. It was at 5.04% late Tuesday.

The 10-year yield slipped to 4.64% from 4.68%.

In stock markets abroad, many exchanges were shut for holidays. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3%, and London’s FTSE 100 was virtually unchanged.

AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimon Zhong contributed.

A banner for cruise operator Viking, marking its initial public offering, hangs on the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 22, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE- A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 30, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)