A/HRC/29/36 8. The present report should be read alongside the reports on the visits to Italy and Malta and the report to the Human Rights Council on European Union border management (A/HRC/23/46). III. Follow-up to the 2013 regional study on management of the external borders of the European Union and its impact on the human rights of migrants A. Introduction 9. Despite some positive developments, the human rights issues raised in the Special Rapporteur’s 2013 report persist. The continued ineffectiveness and paradoxes of European Union border management policies and the lack of a coherent, human rights-based approach to migration have been vividly and visibly demonstrated by the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. These tragic events have propelled the issue of the human rights of migrants who use sea-based migratory routes into the spotlight. Suffering that is less frequently discussed is also being seen at all stages of migration, including within the European Union. 10. Given the European Union’s share of global resources and wealth of substantive normative standards, recent deaths at sea and other human rights issues have to be seen as the result of collective political will and policy choices. The suffering of so many and the tendency of migration to take place clandestinely is a symptom of systemic failings within the European Union border management system and a clear sign that the region is losing control of migration despite sustained investment in securing borders. These failings also cut deeper and speak to how the European Union responds to difference and diversity. 11. The costs associated with attempting to sustain the status quo are huge. The human costs continue to rise as migrants die at sea and suffer on a large scale at borders, within the European Union, as well as in neighbouring countries. Furthermore, the resources lost through investing into an ineffective system and not maximizing the opportunities to benefit from organized migration are significant. 12. To remedy this, the European Union needs to take a whole-system view of migration and review how its related policies and underlying concepts can be shifted to develop a human rights-based approach. Taking a long-term view and banking on mobility over the next 25 years will better place the Union to respond to the significant economic, social and demographic changes that lie ahead. B. Overview of migration since 2013 1. Sustained increases in non-European Union migrants have not been seen but irregular migration and asylum applications are increasing 13. A sustained increase in overall migration from third countries has not been seen over the past five years. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that, in 2012, the European Union experienced a 12per cent decline in migration involving non-European Union nationals.1 The overall decrease in flows to the European Union is reflective of the fact that the region has broadly deemed migration from third- 1 4 OECD, “ Is migration really increasing?”, Migration Policy Debates (May 2014).