The number of asylum seekers arriving in Europe has skyrocketed in 2023. More than 40,000 undocumented people have crossed the Mediterranean Sea so far this year: one of the highest rates since the 2015 migration crisis.

The first quarter of 2023 was also the deadliest for migrants crossing the Mediterranean since 2017. Some 700 people have either died or gone missing in the first three months of the year en route.

To discuss Europe's response to this, Euronews' International Correspondent Anelise Borges spoke to António Vitorino, Director General of the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM).

So, if people are displaced, why is it that their choice is to pay criminals to take them to a foreign country they can't get into legally?

Is it not their countries responsibility to help them IN their own country?