"If not for pure necessity": Deaths and disappearances on migration journeys in North and Central America

More than 5,000 deaths and disappearances during migration across Central and North America and the Caribbean have been recorded since 2014, though many more likely go undocumented. This crisis of migrant deaths is well-publicized in some areas but poorly covered in others. This briefing provides an overview of data collected in/on the Americas by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP), which since 2014 has documented deaths and disappearances during migration worldwide.  

This briefing begins with a discussion of the many challenges of documenting migrant deaths in the Americas, and the urgent need to collect better data on those who lose their lives while transiting in the region. Without robust data, effective policies and programmes aimed at promoting safe migration for all remain out of reach, and the information needed to provide closure to the countless families directly impacted by a relative’s disappearance remains missing. 

The following sections of this briefing discuss the risks on routes across Central and North America, including the United States of America-Mexico border crossings, movements through Mexico, the Darien jungle and migration from and within the Caribbean. It also includes an overview of the most recent trends in deaths on migration routes in these areas, based on data collected from January to July 2021 – though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed migration trends profoundly, migrant deaths continue to occur across the region.

In order to contextualize and humanize this grim data, testimonies from affected migrants and their families, as well as best practices from the region on the issue of missing migrants are included throughout. The briefing concludes with a set of recommendations for governments and NGOs working on the issue of missing migrants in the Americas, including a call for safe, legal routes that are ultimately the only solution to the unnecessary loss of life on migratory routes across the region.