MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2020) The amount of people trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands from the western African countries has increased, which is likely linked to the pandemic-related restrictions in the traditional Primary migrant destinations like Italy and Greece, a spokeswoman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Spain told Sputnik.
"The route towards the Canary Islands from West African countries is seeing an increase, despite being a very dangerous one with long distances that can take more than a week. Likely this increase could be due to closure of borders or difficulties to access the traditional routes," Maria Jesus Vega said.
According to the UNHCR official, people who chose to embark on a dangerous journey to Europe, regardless of what route they chose, continue to die in hundreds on their way. Vega called for creating legal routes of migration to reduce the risk of fatalities en route and also counter criminal businesses of smugglers and traffickers.
"Investing in regular migration channels and enhanced mobility will also be essential to sustainable development and growth in the EU and elsewhere," she added.
In the case of Spain, in particular, Vega said the majority of migrants were of Latin American origin, which is apparently due to the commonalities of the language, culture and family links. According to the official, of slightly over 64,000 asylum applications filed in Spain as of late August over 40,000 were lodged by Venezuelans and Colombians.
�The rest of the arrivals the UNHCR official said were from such African countries as Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea. These people apparently opted out for Spain rather than Italy or Greece via the popular Mediterranean route where the EU has funded, trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard to intercept migrant boats and turn them back. The Balkan Route, in the meantime, has remained closed altogether.
