What happens to those who die in their attempts to reach the European Union? How are their lives marked, how can their families honor them? How do governments recognize their existence and their basic rights as human beings?

Our cross-border team of eight journalists confirmed 1,015 unmarked graves of migrants in 65 cemeteries buried over the last 10 years across Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Poland, Lithuania, France, and Croatia. We visited over half of them.

Unidentified migrants rest in cemeteries in olive groves, on hilltops, in dense forests, and along remote highways. Each unmarked grave represents a person who lost their life en route to Europe, and a fate that will remain forever unknown to their loved ones.

The Border Graves Investigation team consists of Tina Xu (Project Manager) Gabriela Ramirez (Poland and Lithuania) Barbara Matejčić (Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia) Gabriele Cruciata (Italy) Daphne Tolis (Greece) Danai Maragoudaki (Greece) Eoghan Gilmartin (Spain) Leah Pattem (Spain) Our team was funded by Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) and JournalismFund Europe. . Read The Border Graves Investigation: https://unbiasthenews.org/border-graves-investigation/

Video: The Border Graves Team