ABSTRACT
In the first two months of 2016 alone, 410 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean sea, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).1 In 2015, 3,772 people perished in these waters.2 Since the sinking of a boat with 500 people off the coast of Lampedusa on 3 October 2013,3
the death toll has not stopped; rather, it has steadily increased. These tragic deadly sea incidents mark the significance and urgency of the problem of migration by sea. Indeed, thousands of people are currently undertaking very perilous journeys and putting their lives in serious danger in order to flee from their country of origin. They flee by whatever means are possible, including overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels which are often at risk of sinking. Indeed, many of them do sink. The result is that thousands of lives are lost every year.
