If not left to die of dehydration or illness, migrants on the dangerous land routes through northern Africa toward the Mediterranean and Europe risk rape, torture, sex trafficking and even organ theft, according to a new report produced in part by the United Nations.
Based on interviews with more than 31,000 migrants all along their routes, from 2020 to 2023, the report documents the brutality suffered by the growing number of people from dozens of countries who try to make their way across the Sahel and the Sahara, fleeing war, environmental degradation and poverty.
Physical violence apart from sexual violence, which the report counted separately, was the risk most often identified by migrants.
Dangers along the routes include arbitrary detention — often to extort money from their families — and trafficking for labor, sex or criminal activity.
The migrants told of torture and even organ harvesting.
Organizations:
United Nations, Migration
Locations:
Africa, Europe, Denmark