Europe: Refugees & Migrants’ Rights

  • The EU and its member states continue efforts to prevent arrivals and outsource responsibility for migration control to countries outside the EU. In Libya the EU is pursuing a containment strategy in cooperation with their authorities, despite overwhelming evidence of pervasive abuse against asylum seekers and other migrants arbitrarily detained in Libya.

    Just over 172,300 people reached Europe by sea in 2017, less than half those in 2016. There was a significant increase in boat migration from Morocco to Spain, though overall numbers remained low. The Mediterranean crossing remained deadly, with 3,139 dead or missing in 2017.

    Nongovernmental organizations performed roughly 40 percent of rescues in the central Mediterranean in the first half of 2017, but several groups suspended activities due to security concerns and increased interceptions, sometimes reckless and accompanied by abuse, by Libyan coast guard forces.

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    Trapped

    Lesbos, a postcard-perfect vacation island in the northern Aegean Sea, is a haven for people fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It symbolizes the hope that somewhere in Europe there is refuge. It is also a graveyard for the countless corpses that have washed ashore on its beautiful coastline. And it’s hell for the thousands who are trapped there, victims of the European Union’s determination to stem the tide of asylum seekers and other migrants by sending a message that they are unwelcome. For all of its natural beauty, there is much fear on Lesbos. Fear caused by the traumas of war, violence and displacement and of harsh camp conditions, insecurity and uncertain futures. Fear of rejection, detention, and deportation. Fear of going to the toilet in the dark at night, or not eating after two hours in a food line. Fear of lice and scabies. Fear of winter, cold and damp.

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    Saving Lives at Sea

    Metal towers of lights reached out of the sea and flames belched into the midnight sky as the Aquarius reached Bouri Field, the largest oilfield in the Mediterranean, about 65 nautical miles north of Libya. I had been sitting cross-legged on deck of this rescue ship, listening to a group of West African men telling unbearable stories of captivity and brutality in Libya, the country they had just fled. Amadou concluded, to earnest nods all around, “God left Libya a long time ago.”

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    Exodus: Asylum Seekers Flee Into Europe

    “What will happen to us?” “Will they fingerprint us?” was the constant refrain as we watched a human wave of asylum seekers and migrants from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan crossing the Serbia-Hungary border.