Thousands of migrants have died after suffering “extreme” abuse while crossing Africa, according to a UN report on Wednesday that estimated 72 people perish each month on the continent’s routes. Most migrants making such journeys experience or witness “unspeakable brutality and inhumanity” by smugglers, traffickers, militias and sometimes state actors, the UNHCR said. “For too long, the harrowing abuses experienced by refugees and migrants long these overland routes have remained largely invisible,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement. Others perished in the south of war-ravaged Libya, while another deadly route crosses conflict-ridden Central African Republic and Mali. Around a third of those who reported witnessing or surviving sexual violence said it had occurred in more than one location.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 29, 2020 12:11 UTC