UNHCR and UNICEF welcome the call made by the European Commission to Member States to increase resettlement and other legal pathways for children to safely reach Europe.

UNHCR and UNICEF hope that new EU guidelines will be concrete contribution to the protection of the many children who arrive to Europe after having been forced to flee their homes due to violence, war and conflict.

In 2016, NGOs rescued more than 46,000 people in the central Mediterranean, representing over 26 per cent of all rescue operations. This trend continues, reaching 33 per cent since the beginning of the year.

The increasing numbers of passengers on board vessels used by traffickers are the main cause of shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean, and risks are increased by the worsening quality of vessels and the increasing use of rubber boats instead of wooden ones.

Since the beginning of 2017, one person out of 35 has died on the sea journey from Libya to Italy.

UNHCR calls for broader regional responsibility sharing responses for disembarkation to be developed urgently.

New measures on both sides of the Central Mediterranean Sea to seriously combat trafficking are needed.

On World Refugee Day, new shipwrecks in the Mediterranean are a reminder of the grave dangers that people confront when forced to flee their countries because of war and persecution.

Sea arrivals in Italy are a matter of international concern, requiring a joined-up, comprehensive regional approach. Europe in particular needs to be fully involved through an urgent distribution system, increased external engagement and additional legal pathways of admission.

A UNHCR study finds that around half of those travelling to Libya do so believing they can find jobs there, but end up fleeing onwards to Europe to escape life-threatening insecurity, instability, difficult economic conditions plus widespread exploitation and abuse.