FMR 75

Dangerous journeys:

Saving lives and responding to missing migrants and refugees

Dangerous journeys are taken every day by refugees and other migrants, often with tragic consequences. This issue explores how more lives can be saved on land and sea and how disappearances can be prevented or resolved. Articles highlight the growing constraints on search and rescue through criminalisation and ‘bureaucratisation’; how rescue operates in different locations – from the mountains to the desert; the role of high-level diplomacy and regional cooperation in preventing deaths and disappearances and on-the-ground approaches to identification; the particular perils of new migration routes – and more.

FMR 75

Dangerous journeys:

Saving lives and responding to missing migrants and refugees

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Alice Philip and Jo Boyce, Editors, Forced Migration Review

From the Editors

Florian von König, Sanjula Weerasinghe, Mariela Guajardo and Samuel Boutruche

Foreword

What is lost when a migrant or a refugee dies or goes missing along dangerous journeys? For the individual and their families? What is lost for communities and societies?

Elisa Sisto

The practice and politics of mountain rescue on the French-Italian border

Restrictive migration policies have made Europe’s mountainous alpine borders even more perilous for the migrants crossing them. A distinctive citizen-led approach to mountain rescue in the Hautes-Alpes is helping to reduce the risks.

Antonietta Lanzarone, Panthelis Themelis and Florian von König

The 2023 Pylos shipwreck: applying the Disaster Victim Identification Protocol

Most migrants who die before reaching their destination are never identified. The Greek authorities’ response to a shipwreck in 2023, however, provides an excellent case study of successful identification.

Malvika Verma

Search and rescue in the desert: taking a proactive approach in Niger

A supportive environment for search and rescue in Niger has made possible an effective humanitarian response to migrants in distress in the desert, offering lessons for other contexts.

Alberto Hernández Hernández and Carlos S. Ibarra

Migration packages: commodification and risk along the Americas corridors

Commodified migration packages in the Americas’ corridors heighten already unequal risks, forcing resource-poor migrants onto more perilous routes. Effective policies are urgently needed to mitigate and prevent exploitation along these corridors.

Houman Oliaei

Networks of possibility: journeys from the Middle East to the US–Mexico border

People from the Middle East attempting to reach the US navigate varied terrains as well as bureaucracy, corruption and changing visa regimes. Migration brokers develop dynamic networks, both regular and irregular, to help people move.

Angela Cotroneo and Florian von König

From commitments to action on missing migrants: the role of humanitarian diplomacy

Multi-stakeholder humanitarian diplomacy at global and regional levels, including transregional dialogues, are key for mobilising State efforts to address missing migrant cases.

Rafal Zadykowicz, Judyta Kuc, Joanna Ladomirska, Federica Zamatto and Sylvia Lim

Providing emergency medical care at the Belarus–Poland border

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) takes a flexible approach in its provision of medical care at the Belarus–Poland border. Its model emphasises collaboration with civil society, challenges systemic barriers, and is adaptable and replicable.

Paul Luc Vernon, Abdullah Mohammadi and Gading Gumilang Putra

Coordinating a route-based approach for Rohingya movements

Adopting a civil society-supported ‘route-based approach’ can enhance existing coordination structures and more effectively assist and protect Rohingya refugees undertaking dangerous maritime and overland journeys.

Lucinda Evert, Stephen Fonseca and Vaughn Rossouw

Missing migrants in Southern Africa: building State investigation capacity

Many State authorities dealing with the missing and the dead have systems in place for managing such cases. With minimal adjustments, these systems can be adapted to address the specific challenges relating to missing and deceased migrants.

Belinda Liddell, Kimberly Archer, Nicole Batch and Jill Stockwell

The psychological impact of missing family on forcibly displaced people

For family members who have missing relatives who may have died on dangerous journeys, not knowing the fate of loved ones can have profound psychological and social consequences, especially if they are displaced themselves.

Jana Röthlisberger, Ndumbeh Saho and Florian von König

Strengthening State collaboration to prevent and resolve cases of missing migrants

Migratory routes linking Africa with Europe are among the world’s deadliest. Recognition of the central importance of States in addressing this issue is at the heart of a new Network of National Focal Points for Missing Migrants.

Ngang Fru Delvis

Cameroonian women navigating the dangerous journey through the Americas

Cameroonian migrant women journeying through Latin America to the US encounter multiple challenges. Despite mutual support and local community assistance, they face particular forms of violence as women and must develop strategies to keep safe.

Flávia Rodrigues de Castro

Stowaway journeys and Protection & Indemnity Clubs in Brazil

Protection & Indemnity Clubs could play a more effective role in managing stowaways on ships if they cooperated more with civil society to improve humanitarian outcomes.

Ralph Mamiya and Caroline Abu Sa’Da

Engaging commercial shipping in maritime rescue and data collection

Maritime migrants navigate the world’s busiest shipping lanes alongside thousands of commercial vessels. Commercial shipping is an important but overlooked partner in mass rescue and migration policy, from issues of data collection to rescue operations.

Aliya Abidi

Fear as a weapon of deterrence for asylum seekers: a case study from a Greek island

Heightened border security and the fear it instils are increasingly prompting asylum seekers to hide from authorities on arrival in Greece, with sometimes tragic consequences. Fostering trust is enabling an NGO to help.

Anna Bowen

Navigating choppy seas: challenges to civil search and rescue

A joint operation on the Ocean Viking seeks to save lives and protect the rights of migrants and refugees. But the regulatory challenges it faces highlight the need for a more conducive environment for humanitarian action.

Marc Tilley

From criminalisation to bureaucratisation: State obstruction at sea

States increasingly rely on bureaucratic measures to obstruct search and rescue, marking an evolution in the criminalisation of solidarity. This threatens humanitarian efforts, contravenes international obligations and places greater burdens on commercial shipping.

Neela Hassan

Deadly crossings at the Afghanistan–Iran border

The disturbing number of deaths and disappearances at the Afghanistan-Iran border could be reduced through better international responsibility-sharing, holding Iran accountable for its immigration policies, and enhancing humanitarian services at the border.

Laura Lungarotti and Joanie Durocher

The end game: risking everything on the Western Balkans route

Migrants travelling the Western Balkans route are subject to a multitude of risks. The EU and their partners in the region have a shared responsibility to protect those in vulnerable situations.

Gilberto M A Rodrigues and Luiza Fernandes e Silva

Cartagena+40: a missed opportunity for regional cooperation on dangerous journeys

In December 2024, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean approved an update to the Cartagena Process, their regional framework for refugee protection. However, the new deal lacks concrete cooperation measures to address dangerous journeys.

Eleanor Paynter

Rescue amid shifting politics in the Central Mediterranean

In the Central Mediterranean, humanitarian rescue crews working to save lives do so under policies that make rescue a costly and potentially criminal act.

Matilde Moro and Jordi Cortes Espasa

On board the Ocean Viking: safety, dignity and protection

Protection activities on board the Ocean Viking respond to a wide range of needs. Based on a survivor-centred approach, these activities aim to promote safety, dignity and humanity.

Magdalena Arias Cubas, Sanjana Bhardwaj, Simon Robins and Jill Stockwell

Separation of children: causes, impacts and mitigation strategies

Unaccompanied and separated migrant children face great risks to their safety, well-being and dignity. Yet there is too little awareness of the specific dangers they face, the reasons behind their separation or how to reduce such risks.

Julian Pahlke and Paulo Pisco

Shaping policy responses to missing migrants through the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly works to bring together governments, parliamentarians and civil society actors from across Europe to design and promote effective, humane policies to prevent migrant deaths and disappearances.

Jeff Crisp

Managing forced migration: an alternative to dangerous journeys?

Can the international refugee protection system be reoriented in a way that enables the victims of persecution and violence to find safety in other States without risking their lives on hazardous routes?