This last year, more than 108 thousand people have jumped into the Mediterranean Sea to try to reach Europe from Africa, according to the International Organization for Migration (OIM). In a context of global migration crisis, migrants and asylum seekers embark on an uncertain journey in unsafe, unprotected, and smuggler-led ships on the deadliest migration route in the world.
The flight from conflict, threats, from human rights violations and of the poverty pushes migrants to try a journey with to reach their destination: Europe. In the Mediterranean Sea they have died almost 1,000 people in 2020, according to IOM.
Although this figure is still very high, the number of deaths has been decreasing progressively since 2016 when it reached the peak of 4,757 lives lost at sea. In part, this drop was caused by the decrease in migrants who undertake the sea route. This year there have been 30% fewer deaths and around 40% attempted arrivals than the previous year.
Roads and migrants in the Mediterranean
The migratory route of the Mediterranean is where more people are currently dying and is composed of several ways. Responsible for 7 out of 10 deaths is that of Central Europe. The port of departure is Libya and the port of arrival is usually Italy, and in particular the island of Lampedusa, and Malta. For its part, the maritime route of Western Europe 2 out of 10 deaths are claimed in the Mediterranean.
The Eastern route refers to the path taken by migrants leaving Turkey to go to Cyprus and above all to Greece, particularly the island of Lesbos. This route represents slightly less than 10% of migrant deaths at sea.
Although the departure from Africa to Europe occurs from specific ports, migrants come from different countries. According to data from the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), most of those who reached European land by sea in 2020 came from Tunisia. They were almost 11,500, which represents 20% of the total.
Algeria is the 15% of total migrations, while Syria and Afghanistan, the nationalities that had most migrated to Europe by sea in the last 6 years, represent the 6% each. Morocco, Bangladesh, Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea complete the list of the 10 countries of origin of migrants from the Mediterranean Sea.
Actions of the EU and NGOs
The migratory situation that exists today in the Mediterranean had its turning point in 2015. The flow of migrants trying to enter Europe became so acute that it has become the largest migration and humanitarian crisis in Europe after the Second World War, especially due to the crisis caused by the civil war in Syria, active since 2011.
Since then, the European Union has sought ways to stop the arrival of migrants. On one side, has agreed with Turkey for the country to prevent the passage of migrants to Europe, many of whom were fleeing the civil war in Syria. Since then, the number of arrivals has dropped considerably largely because of the return policy for migrants arriving on the Greek islands to Turkey. Several NGOs warned that this treatment was against human rights.
On the other hand, in the central Mediterranean route, the EU has reached various agreements with the Government of Libya: training its coast guards to prevent migrant smuggling and human trafficking in Libya, protecting and assisting migrants, supporting local communities and improving the management of borders.
Organizations like Doctors Without Borders (MSF)However, they denounce that the training and investment of the European Union in the Libyan Coast Guard serves to intercept migrants and return them to the country, even though IOM considers Libya not a safe harbor.
In exchange for these agreements, the EU has contributed large sums of money to both countries. These actions have been criticized by NGOs as they accuse Europe of “Outsource” its borders. They have also condemned that the EU does not rescue in international waters and that it does not receive migrants rescued by NGOs at sea.
Last year, Italy, under the orders of the politician of the ultra Lega Nord party, did not allow the rescue ship of the NGO to disembark Open Arms with several dozen migrants rescued at sea.
Shortly before, the captain of another rescue ship, Sea-Watch 3, Carola Rackete, was arrested in Lampedusa (Italy) for docking despite the express ban by the Italian government. For its part, the NGO Doctors Without Borders has rescued more than 60,000 people and has assisted another 20,000 since 2015.
Sources: IOM, BBC, The vanguard, UNHCR, MSF, European Union (central route, the route is), International Amnesty
Work today in the classroom
Junior Report Aula
Junior Report designs teaching units to read and work on current affairs in the classroom.
–
