The majority are economic migrants, wile the rest are in genuine ‘need of protection’

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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said seven in 10 people found crossing the Mediterranean are not legitimate refugees but are economic migrants, while the rest are in genuine “need of protection”.

People smuggling and migrant flows are on the rise, the UNCHR warned, with 84,830 people arriving on Italy’s shores so far this year from Libya.

That figure represents a 19 per cent increase from the same period last year.

And 2,108 had died while trying to make the perilous crossing, often organised by ruthless smugglers in unseaworthy, rickety boats.