Assessing the cost-effectiveness of irregular migration control policies in Greece

In September 2014, the Greek office of Amnesty International, issued a press release regarding the continuous deaths in the Mediterranean. Highlighting the plight of refugees and migrants attempting to reach European shores, it noted that in the Aegean Sea alone, from August 2012 and until May of 2014 a total of 208 persons were estimated to have drowned or disappeared. In 2011, which was the deadliest year for the Mediterranean crossing, 1,500 migrants died: 1 in every 50 migrants who crossed. For 2014 however, IOM's records of loss of life at sea are already exceedingly high; 3,000 migrants have died attempting to make the voyage to Europe, seeking entry via Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain.