article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Much of the world has been stunned by the huge increase of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean this year, increasing the number of deaths at sea by a factor of 30 compared to the same time last year.
article_snippet.sent: Almost all the deaths have occurred in the perilous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy.
article_snippet.sent: The flows of migrants across the Mediterranean are unlikely to stop -- Italian authorities estimate that up to 200,000 migrants in Libya are waiting to cross, following 170,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in Italy last year.
article_snippet.sent: The flows of migrants across the Mediterranean reflect a significant increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced people across the world, with a total estimate of 51.2 million people.
article_snippet.sent: For comparison, we estimate that a similar model to respond to the 170,000 refugees and migrants who arrived last year in Italy would cost A$75 billion ($58.5 billion).
article_snippet.sent: In Italy, both Mare Nostrum and Operation Triton were stemming an inevitable tide given the political instability in North Africa.
article_snippet.sent: The migrants currently in Libya are in a perilous limbo, with a growing civil war having displaced more than 400,000 Libyans and with Human Rights Watch noting that the conflict and collapse of government authority has "eliminated any semblance of law and order from large parts of Libya.