The Red Cross manages hundreds of help facilities for Migrants and refugee in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, where it provides people with food and drink, hygiene items and medicines, among other things.

Ezekiel Simperingham, who is in charge of managing migration and displacement services at the Red Cross, said that there is “unimaginable suffering and preventable deaths” along this and other migrant routes, where the Red Cross has observed a deterioration of conditions in recent months.

“All states must take a coordinated, inclusive and nondiscriminatory approach to ensure that people migrating receive the humanitarian assistance they need,” he said, appealing to governments in transit countries to improve and coordinate their rescue efforts.

“We cannot ignore the tragedy of the missing,” Simperingham added, highlighting that many of the deaths on migrant routes aren’t even reported or recorded.

Over the past year, numbers of migrants crossing the Balkans in hopes of reaching the European Union have risen dramatically — despite widespread reports of violence against migrants and illegal pushbacks being carried out throughout the region.

Read more: Why has the Balkan migrant route become more active again?

The Red Cross in the Mediterranean

In the Mediterranean, Red Cross workers say they have also observed a change in the overall situation. Together with the aid organization SOS Mediterranee, they have rescued the lives of thousands of people over the years.

As recently as Thursday, they helped save the lives of 29 people who were found floating in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea on a small boat, said Sara Mancinelli, who coordinates the Red Cross’ operations at sea. 

She also highlighted the importance of the Red Cross’ contributions at sea, helping with food and medical care as well as psychological support, in particular.

Mancinelli added that some of the migrants were so distraught by what they had witnessed during their journeys that they were unable to speak, adding that some had obvious signs of torture on their bodies — especially those coming from Libya as their last transit country.

Read more: EU Parliament approves migration emergency plan

Libya still a human rights blindspot

A recently published UN Human Rights Council report on the rights situation in the country said last month says that that there are “grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity” have been committed by security forces and armed militia groups, targeting migrants in particular.

The report said there were grounds to believe that sexual slavery against migrants was rife in what supposedly are government run detention centers.

The investigators behind the report also blamed the European Union for supporting Libya’s coast guard, saying that they had contributed to crimes against migrants. Other organizations like Human Rights Watch have also raised similar concerns.

According to the IOM, there were nearly 700,000 migrants with at least 42 nationalities in Libya as of the end of last year. 

Read more: EU operation saves more than 1,200 lives in Mediterranean in April to date

with dpa