Migrant arrivals in Europe slump amid Turkish crackdown — UN

GENEVA — The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe fell by more than a third last month, due to poor weather and a Turkish crackdown on traffickers, the UN said Tuesday.

In November, some 140,000 migrants and refugees made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, marking a 36.5-per cent drop from October, when a record 220,535 arrived on Europe's shores, the UN's refugee agency said.

"It's the first [month] this year that actually shows a decrease compared to the previous one," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

"It's a big drop," he said, but stressed that "the figures are still very high."

He said the slowdown last month was linked to "fluctuating climate conditions in the Aegean but also a crackdown on smuggling by Turkish authorities".

His comments came two days after the European Union vowed to provide three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in cash as well as political concessions to Ankara in return for its cooperation in tackling Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

Turkey hosts more than two million refugees from the Syrian conflict and is the main launching point for migrants coming to Europe, via Greece.

More than 886,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, according to the latest UN figures.

Most of them are fleeing conflict and violence in places like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the vast majority of them — 738,000 — have landed on the Greek islands before moving up through the continent towards northern Europe.

A total of 3,515 people have meanwhile perished in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, most of them along the longer and more dangerous route from Libya to Italy.

The UN's children's agency and the Organisation for Migration meanwhile warned Tuesday that women and children make up an increasing proportion of the migrants and refugees on the move, and currently account for more than half, up from just 27 per cent a few months ago.

This has had tragic consequences, since children especially are more vulnerable along the journey.

Along the eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece, where more families are travelling, children account for at least 30 per cent of the 589 deaths so far this year, IOM and UNICEF said.

In October alone, at least 90 children died in the eastern Mediterranean.