In the first six months of 2015 more than 100,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean, arriving at the shores of southern Europe in search of protection or a better life. In the same period more than 1,800 people lost their lives, drowning as overloaded and often unseaworthy boats sank into the sea. By the end of 2015, this had risen to the unprecedented figure of one million arrivals and nearly 4,000 recorded deaths.
The MEDMIG project set out to better understand these migration dynamics as part of the ‘Mediterranean Migration Research Programme’ established through the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) £1 million ‘Urgency Grant’, co-funded by the Department for International Development.
Drawing on the voices and experiences of those who made the journey and a rich understanding of EU and Member States responses to this multi-faceted migration flow, the project provides a framework for understanding these unprecedented levels of migration and loss of life in the Mediterranean.
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