As the world observes International Migrants Day on December 18 to increase awareness about human rights and fundamental political freedoms of migrants, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that in 2016, over 7,000 people died while they were trying to migrate either through sea routes or deserts.
"As of today, over 7,000 people already have lost their lives along all these routes in 2016. And these are only the fatalities that we know about," IOM director general William Lacy Swing said.
"Every day for the past three years, just over a dozen migrants have died on average, or one man, woman or child every two hours," Swing said.
The increase in fatalities is almost double when compared to last year. A total of 3,771 refugees had lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean in all of 2015.
While it is true that the harsher anti-immigration policies of governments across Europe that focus on border control adopted by countries such as Hungary, France, United Kingdom have accentuated the crisis.
The astounding figure of 65 million refugees that is the outcome of the global migrant crisis has also propelled right wing and xenophobic leaders into power in several regions of the confounded western world.
But in spite of this, several reports suggest that India has shown exceptional resilience in the face of the growing anti-immigration wave spreading across the world.
India and migrants
Apart from the fact that India saw its own migrant crisis unfold in Saudi Arabia, a report by a new YouGov survey of more than 20,000 people across 19 countries found that India came second, only after the UAE in the list of countries that consider immigrants from other countries as having a positive effect in the country.
Similarly, a Pew research study released recently found that India is the top country of origin of international migrants, with 15.6 million Indians living abroad. The report stated as of 2015, nearly 3.5 million Indians lived in the UAE, the world's second-largest migration corridor. The top origins of international migrants, according to the report, are India (15.6 million), followed by Mexico (12.3 million), Russia (10.6 million), China (9.5 million) and Bangladesh (7.2 million).
But most importantly, Yasuko Shimizu, the chief of mission for UNHCR in India and the Maldives, on Friday said that India is one of the most generous countries for refugees, ensuring safety and employment to the displaced people in the best of her capacity and added that the country has helped refugees by providing work permits and issuing long-term visas.
"India is one of the most generous countries for refugees. The country has given opportunities for such people to go for jobs by providing work permits. Although we give refugee cards to displaced people but the government here issues long term visas for them which is very helpful…India has been tolerant with people of different backgrounds, ethnicity and cultures which is not the case with many other countries," she said.
