Act promptly to save lives and migrants go missing

Every year, thousands of migrants go missing or die along migration routes. Families of lost migrants confront catastrophic socio-economic, psychological, and legal implications. It is crucial to prevent migrants from dying or going missing by:

• Prioritising and cooperating in search and rescue operations to help migrants regardless of their migration status, including through clear and predictable disembarkation mechanisms that ensure that survivors are delivered to a place of safety and that all children receive adequate non-custodial care and reception;

• Supporting humanitarian organisations and commercial vessel crews providing vital assistance, healthcare, and protection to migrants on land and sea, without criminalising, blocking, or otherwise discouraging their activities;

• Frequent review of migration-related laws, policies, and practices to ensure they are compliant with international law and do not increase the risk of migrant deaths or disappearances;

• Enabling migrants and their families to establish, restore, or maintain contact along migratory routes and at destination;

• Creating and reinforcing opportunities for safe and regular migration that respects the right to family life and meets the needs of vulnerable migrants and practices for admission and stay based on compassionate, humanitarian, or other considerations.

Source: World Health Organisation