As they board the dinghies heading to the shores of the European Union, irregular migrants have one thing in mind: reaching a continent they dream of for a better life, far from their war-torn or impoverished countries. The imminent risk almost takes a backseat in their plans. For the Turkish coast guard, it is the foremost priority.

The guards of Turkey’s "Blue Homeland," stretching for hundreds of kilometers on the Aegean coast in the west, have made it their mission to rescue hapless crowds, especially in the wake of the Syrian conflict, which has left millions displaced. The latest figures, between January 2020 and April 2022, show they pulled some 55,000 irregular immigrants to safety or stopped them before embarking on the short but fatally dangerous journeys to Europe.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic, during which most European countries shut their borders, slowed migration, the phenomenon, which has also reduced since the first years of the Syrian conflict, prevails.

The state of irregular migrants is still a hotly debated issue, as the images of people stranded on dinghies or clutching to sinking boats have hurt the public conscience; yet, the possibility of admitting more migrants is still argued about among the European Union members.

Turkey’s location as the last gateway to Europe makes it a favorite destination for migrants, either seeking to reach Greek islands scattered across the Aegean Sea or, farther away, the coast of Italy. Human traffickers profiting from the dreams of migrants from all around the globe give them unsafe rubber boats for their journeys, paving the way for humanitarian tragedies. An informal "pushback" policy of Greece, which is not fully acknowledged yet, further threatens the migrants.

More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic while trying to reach Europe last year, double the toll from 2020, the United Nations said Friday. A fresh report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) demanded urgent action to combat surging deaths among refugees, asylum-seekers and other migrants trying to reach Europe.

Last year, a total of 3,077 people were lost while trying to cross the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes to the continent, the report showed, up from 1,544 in 2020. "Alarmingly, since the beginning of the year, an additional 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea," UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.

The report showed that for 2021, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while another 1,153 perished on the North African maritime route to the Canary Islands. "Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats, many of which capsized or were deflated, leading to the loss of life," Mantoo said. The sea journey from countries on the West African coast such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands was particularly perilous, she said, pointing out that the crossing could take up to 10 days. "Many boats drifted off course or otherwise went missing without trace in these waters," she said.

The UNHCR report cautioned that land routes were also "highly dangerous."

"Even greater numbers may have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, in detention centers, or while in the captivity of smugglers or traffickers," Mantoo said.

The UNHCR warned that the COVID-19 pandemic and related border closures had complicated movement further and had forced many desperate refugees and migrants to turn to smugglers to make their perilous journeys. The U.N. agency also cautioned that political instability and conflicts, as well as climate change, could increase such dangerous displacement going forward.

"UNHCR is appealing for support to help provide meaningful alternatives to these dangerous journeys and prevent people from becoming victims of traffickers," Mantoo said.