Overview
Between 1 January and 31 May 2019, 1,561 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy by sea, compared to 13,430 in the same period last year. In May 2019, 782 individuals reached Italian shores. This is considerably higher than monthly sea arrivals between January and April 2019, when between 60 and 262 persons were registered each month at landing points in southern Italy.
Nationality of arrivals
In the first five months of 2019, 22 per cent of sea arrivals originated from Tunisia, followed by Pakistan (15 per cent), Algeria (13 per cent), Iraq (11 per cent), Bangladesh (9 per cent), Côte d'Ivoire (4 per cent), Egypt (3 per cent), Sudan (2 per cent), Guinea (2 per cent), and Morocco (2 per cent). In May 2019, the most common nationality arriving in Italy by sea was Pakistani, with 175 persons registered at landing points during the month. Most Pakistani sea arrivals landed autonomously on Apulian and Calabrian shores having departed from Turkey and Greece. Furthermore, 88 Iraqi sea arrivals reached Italian shores in May. They also most commonly landed in Apulia and Calabria, having departed from Turkey and Greece. During the month, there were also considerable numbers of sea arrivals originating from Algeria (106) and Tunisia (94) who most commonly disembarked in Sardinia and Lampedusa, respectively. Notably, 88 Bangladeshi nationals arrived in Italy by sea in May, compared to 57 who arrived in the first four months of the year. While 30 Sudanese nationals reached Italian shores in May, there were no sea arrivals originating from Eritrea during the month. In May, 126 Eritrean nationals, 14 Somali nationals, seven Sudanese nationals, and two Ethiopian nationals were evacuated from Libya to Italy, thanks to a joint operation between UNHCR, and Italian and Libyan authorities.