Drowning is preventable when appropriate strategies are identified and effectively implemented. There are many different circumstances in which drowning occurs, one of which involves emigration, including emigration of refugees seeking to escape war, persecution or natural disaster. Drowning tragedies involving emigrants in the Mediterranean Sea have recently attracted significant attention, but it is important to remember that drowning has always been a hazard for emigrants worldwide, wherever states are separated by water.
The World Health Organisation advises that every hour of every day more than 40 people lose their lives to drowning. Most of these people are not emigrants. The WHO have further found that drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death globally after road traffic injuries; and that drowning has a similar burden today as diseases such as diarrhoea and measles in the 1970s and 1980s.
The prevention of drowning of those who try to cross bodies of water in an effort to leave their country of residence for a better life requires specific strategies. Emigrants are sometimes desperate and willing to take extraordinary risks. To be effective, drowning prevention strategies must be adapted to the circumstances and specific causes of drowning. They are ideally coordinated among all entities with the resources to favourably influence outcomes.
Many different groups have the ability and moral obligation to contribute to prevention of emigrant drowning:
High Resource Nations: The desire to leave one nation and move to another typically involves a perception that things are better in the destination country. To the extent that destination countries can help reduce imbalances in quality of life among nations, emigration, particularly hazardous emigration, will diminish, along with a lessened loss of life from drowning (and other causes). As well, to the extent they may choose to offer safe passage, drowning will diminish.
Border States: States bordering bodies of water will inevitably bear the greatest burden of emigration that results in drowning and the need for rescue. These border states must plan for the need for rescue and care of drowning victims. These states should consider seeking a sharing of expenses from other states, regional, and international organisations to reduce the disproportionate burden they may face. While there are costs in drowning prevention, including rescue, they may be less than dealing with the results of mass drowning death. Preparation by the most immediate source of rescue is essential to lessening the burden of drowning on all parties.
International Humanitarian and Relief Organisations: International organisations whose goals include a reduction of death and injury to vulnerable populations should consider the benefits of helping fund aquatic rescue and prevention patrols near areas where emigrants are known to travel by water. From a humanitarian perspective, it is important to remember that preventing drowning is no less important than preventing disease.
National and Regional Non-Government Lifesaving Organisations: Lifesaving organisations can provide an essential role in providing awareness of the drowning problem, strategies to reduce drowning, and contributing volunteers and other personnel to address the problem to help ensure that all strategies employed by all sources are the most effective they can be.
International Life Saving Federation: The ILS can offer an essential role by encouraging collaboration among all parties with the resources to contribute, by identifying the most effective methods of prevention and rescue, and by helping maintain attention on the importance of addressing drowning prevention in emigration, as well as in all other circumstances that can result in drowning.
In summary, emigration has existed for millennia, often accelerated by war, poverty, natural disaster, and other similar causes. Emigration will unfortunately but inevitably continue for the foreseeable future. Where emigration involves crossing water, drowning is an inevitable possibility. Reducing the root causes of emigration will help reduce death associated with emigration accidents. Preparing for the inevitability of emigrant drowning is an essential part of a humane response.