MIGRANT casualties represent the lifelong pain of families left behind. Yet countries do little to preserve humanity. At least 7,667 people either died or went missing last year on various international migration routes, says a new report from the UN’s migration agency. The real body count is likely to be higher. Numbers lower than the all-time high witnessed in 2024 when some 9,200 deaths came to light are no consolation. According to the International Organisation for Migration, these losses symbolise the “global scale” of the migrant emergency. In 2025, at least 2,108 people disappeared on the Mediterranean route, while 1,047 perished on the Atlantic route to Spain. This year, too, began on a grim note with “an unprecedented number of deaths”— 606 — in the Mediterranean during the first two months, despite a sharp fall in “arrivals in Italy”. The IOM has identified sea crossings, particularly from Africa to Europe, as the ‘deadliest’ passages.

Pakistan has little to offer those wracked by poverty and violence. There is no doubt that clampdowns on illegal migration is necessary. But the bigger issue lies in the government’s failure to provide solutions for unemployment, pay gap, climate displacement and other socioeconomic challenges that push people to risk their lives for a happier future. Peace and prosperity remain pipe dreams here, while other countries have accelerated progress with the provision of skills training for the youth. Activists caution that in a racist and xenophobic world, harsh migration policies hurl migrants towards secluded routes and criminal networks in territories without a humanitarian presence. Slashed funding for aid agencies, curbs on NGOs and negligible data mean more undocumented deaths. The strategy to assuage a problem exacerbated by the West is for countries to join hands to improve standards of living, reduce strife in poor regions and formulate policies for the rights of migrants and refugees.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2026