Press release on the death of nearly 25 migrants off the coast of the Union of the Comoros

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) has learned with deep regret of the death of nearly 25 migrants, including women and children, following the sinking of their boat between the archipelago of the Comoros and the island of Mayotte, which they were trying to reach via an arm of the sea separating the two territories, a particularly deadly migratory route.

The Commission offers its sincere condolences to the families of the bereaved victims.

According to the information received by the Commission, as well as the accounts of survivors rescued by fishermen, the boat, which was carrying around thirty migrants, including seven women, two children and two infants, capsized as a result of deliberate manoeuvres by migrant traffickers and smugglers who had organised the crossing.

The Commission is all the more alarmed because this is the third tragedy in recent months to have occurred in the same area and under similar conditions.

In this context, the Commission wishes to recall the ‘African Guiding Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ (2023), in particular Principle 37 relating to the cooperation of Member States of the African Union for the protection of migrants, in particular through the creation of corridors and safe migration routes to allow the free movement of persons as well as the prevention and repression of smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air.

It also recalls the African Union’s Policy on the Prevention of the Smuggling of Migrants in Africa, as well as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, in particular Objective 9 on strengthening transnational action on migrant smuggling.

Following this umpteenth tragedy, the Commission once again expresses its deep concern at the continuing disappearances of migrants in various circumstances, due in particular to the resurgence of irregular migration flows and the use of the most perilous migration routes, and remains convinced that improving the lot of migrants and preventing these dramatic situations requires the development of regular channels for legal migration, and that migration management policies and practices should be based on respect for the human rights of all migrants.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).