La map of migrants tells the desperate journey towards the more developed countries that costs the lives of thousands of human beings, including children, women, and the elderly, every day. Among them, forgotten by all of us, is little Kenzi, who was three years old when a wave overturned the boat that would have taken him from Algeria to Italy.

The migrants' map by Datalab Luiss is an interactive document of Data & Geo Storytelling, providing a representation of deaths that occurred in migrations in recent years. It is an information and e-literacy tool for a central theme in the international socio-political debate of recent years, targeted by a massive disinformation campaign.

Conceived and realized by Luiss Data Lab in collaboration with the innovative startup Catchy, Alkemy Lab, and Kode Srl, the project, built on data, employs modern Geo Intelligence and Geo Visualization technologies. The intention is to communicate, in visual and spatial form, the phenomenon in its entirety, without neglecting the singularity of the thousands of stories that compose it, the humanity they tell.

Click HERE to view it

The data used in the migrants' map:
For the preparation of the reference dataset, open data made available by the Missing Migrants portal were analyzed and processed. These data were collected through official bulletins provided by governments and NGOs, traditional and social media news, as well as testimonies and interviews with survivors. Information was gathered by consulting multiple sources and comparing them with existing records to avoid counting deaths multiple times. The continuously updated data refer to deaths occurring both on land and at sea.

The numbers remain staggering; since December 2013, the initial reference date, 47,278 men and women have lost their lives. 2,561 children have died.

Map visualization:
The geographical distribution of information is achieved through the use of Geo Intelligence tools that allow the exact placement on a world map of each searched position. The result is a world map showing all registered deaths, visible as dots—red for adults, yellow for children—at the exact location where the tragedies occurred. This provides a comprehensive view of the routes that prove fatal for refugees, the darker places of the tragedy ignored by the media.

Interaction, from global to specific:
The opportunity offered by technology is the ability to change the scale, to "zoom in" on the map, to move from the macroscopic perspective of numbers to the suffering of an individual human being. With a click, one can read information about the event: date, causes, description, number of deaths and missing, any survivors, with links to the data source. It is then possible to calibrate the visualization of different datasets, vary the time interval, isolate information about adults or children, and view the evolution of routes over different time frames. Another informative value is the ability to select different itineraries, each dedicated to a specific narrative.

Junior, Ali, Mamadou, Boubacar. The scrolling of names, the images offered by Oxfam Italy and Doctors Without Borders show us the faces of the tragedy, the victims behind the data.

Migrants' map: main routes, the Mediterranean:
"Some think of finding a better life in Europe, others flee from war. But all feel they have no other choice." Hakim Bello speaks, who arrived in Libya from Nigeria, where he crossed Europe's most dangerous route: the Central Mediterranean. Over 17,800 people have died in that stretch of sea during the considered period. It is the route most familiar to us, that of boats departing from the Libyan coast and hoping to be rescued in international waters by military ships or NGOs. Many migrants have been prisoners of Libyan detention centers for months, experiencing violence and abuse. The destination, Lampedusa, is about 140 kilometers from the Tunisian coast. "While in previous years it had been the destination of large ships, today the traffic is mostly made up of small wooden boats departing from Tunisia," wrote Annalisa Camilli in Internazionale magazine.

The main entry channel into Italy is that of the Eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey through the Greek islands. There is no accurate data on this flow, which also includes so-called "ghost landings," small boats arriving in Salento or Calabria from the Turkish coast. "We are talking about Syrian, Kurdish, Pakistani immigrants, almost all heading to Germany, economic migrants, educated, informed family units. They pay a lot and are made to travel in almost acceptable conditions," said Giuseppe Capocci, prosecutor of Crotone, to Corriere della Sera. On June 3, 2018, a motorboat with 15 people on board suffered a breakdown, sinking near the Turkish coast. Two men, a woman, and six children lost their lives. "Smugglers put us on a boat; I thought there would be a captain, but there was no one, no one on board knew how to navigate. It would have taken ten minutes to reach the Greek coast, but we stayed stuck in the same place for two hours, and in the end, it sank," recounted a surviving Syrian.

The Strait of Gibraltar is only 14 kilometers wide, and between the coasts of Andalusia and Morocco, there are at most 200 kilometers. It is the route of the Western Mediterranean, mainly crossed by Moroccan citizens. The Spanish government has built enormous fences separating Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish autonomous cities surrounded by Morocco. Thousands of people try to climb the fences; that of Melilla, nicknamed La Valla, "the barrier," is high, menacing, and built on multiple levels.

The English Channel:
Once in Europe, many immigrants try to move to countries that offer more opportunities. Until 2018, most of them wanted to reach the United Kingdom but died attempting to climb onto trucks and trains before entering the Channel Tunnel. Since 2018, increased border controls have made this option impossible and, in fact, opened a new route, connecting the Breton town of Calais to the English Dover. Furthermore, after Brexit, reaching the UK through legal means, such as family reunification, has become more complicated. While the French and British governments are discussing border control, on November 24, 2021, a boat sank off Calais, and 27 people died in the worst tragedy in the channel.

The Balkans:
The sea is not the only escape route. The strengthening of borders and the establishment of the European border police, Frontex, have restricted passages near the Balkan countries. In response to provocations by Belarusian President Lukashenko, who is using migratory flows to blackmail the European Union, pushing refugees towards the Polish border, Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has deployed twelve thousand soldiers to "defend European borders." Thus, thousands of people are stuck in no man's land, inaccessible to humanitarian organizations.

Mexico:
"The death rides the Rio Bravo" is the title of a 1961 Sam Peckimpah western film, but it is also what is happening today on the banks of the river that divides the two states. Migrants, threatened by border police, throw themselves into the Rio Bravo and drown. Other illegal immigrants try to cross the border packed in trucks, but road accidents are frequent.

During his tenure, President Trump made seeking asylum more difficult and, under the pretext of the pandemic, strengthened border closures. In early 2021, President Biden had suspended the immigration program, "Remain in Mexico," which involves immediate expulsion pending authorities' decisions. However, the Supreme

Court defined the decision as "arbitrary and unjustified," forcing the administration to reinstate it.

"Bingo!" written on a white sign in sparkling red letters is the first thing survivors see after crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. It is an advertisement for a game room nearby, but for those crossing a border, it seems like a reminder: to arrive and have a decent life in Western states, one must be fortunate.

Article by Enzo Panizio and Niccolò Ferrero, students of the Master in Journalism and Multimedia Communication at LUISS Guido Carli University.