The border between Mexico and the US is an extremely dangerous place for migrants, where nearly 6,000 people dreaming of a new life in America have died. Another 3,000 migrant lives have been claimed by the Sahara and the Indian Ocean. However, most migrants die trying to reach Europe. Suffice it to say that out of 40,000 victims, more than half, namely 23,000, were in the Old World.
At the same time, it is clear that the problem becomes deeper and more acute every year. In just nine months of this year, 4,077 migrants died in Europe. The IOM emphasizes that the true number of victims may be significantly higher than the figures given in the study.
Most people die trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, according to the 200-page study. This year, 3,072 people have already fallen victim to the sea depths. This is yet another anti-record. The previous one was set in 2011 and amounted to nearly 1,500 people.
Currently, the European Parliament is going through the procedure of approving the new composition of the European Commission. In a month, Dimitris Avramopoulos, former Greek Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs, who also served as mayor of Athens, will take office as European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, which also oversees EU immigration policy. European Parliament members have approved the Greek diplomat and politician for this post, whose importance grows in proportion to the deepening migration problem.
The new European Commissioner, who will be responsible for the EU's immigration policy for the next five years, believes that migrants should be allowed to submit asylum applications and work visas at embassies of EU member states located in non-EU countries.
Dimitris Avramopoulos believes that the main task of the EU and his department should be saving human lives. He is convinced that Frontex, the EU border agency, should not only prevent illegal migrants from entering Europe but also engage in search and rescue operations. For this, however, the border agency's budget, which ranges from 80 to 90 million euros per year, must be sharply increased. But doing this in the context of the ongoing eurozone crisis will not be easy.
Avramopoulos intends to vigorously push for a commitment from EU member states not to deport migrants and refugees from the EU. He advocates revising certain provisions of the so-called 'Dublin II' regulation, under which migrants are required to apply for asylum in the country through which they entered Europe. His commission will insist on a more even distribution of migrants across Europe, and also urge EU member governments to accept more migrants under the resettlement program organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Under this program, the US has accepted more than 50,000 people, while all of Europe has accepted 5.
The goals and intentions are good, but how feasible they are is quite another question. Cecilia Malmström, Dimitris Avramopoulos's predecessor five years ago, also set high goals for herself but accomplished little, mainly due to opposition from EU member states.
During a three-hour speech in the European Parliament, Avramopoulos repeatedly criticized Brussels' policy that turned the Old World into 'Fortress Europe.' That's what lawyers specializing in migrant cases call the continent. He also condemned the Greek government for building a 10-kilometer fence on the border with Turkey in the Evros region. The land border, which used to be crossed by thousands of migrants, mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq, and in recent years from Syria, is now locked, but the number of migrants crossing from Turkey into the EU through Greece has not decreased. They just now use a much more dangerous sea route. So it is no surprise that the number of migrant deaths in Europe has sharply increased.
In fact, refugees from Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than three years; Afghanistan and Iraq; Libya, Eritrea, and other African countries cannot legally enter Europe. The barriers erected both by the EU as a whole and by its individual members force migrants to undertake increasingly dangerous journeys and are the main reason for the rise in the number of victims among them.
Most migrants die in the central Mediterranean trying to get from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa, Malta, the Greek island of Crete, etc.
Another 'hot' border of the European Union is the border between Spain and Morocco. Refugees who decide to try to enter Europe via the Iberian Peninsula do so mainly through the Spanish enclaves on Moroccan territory: Ceuta and Melilla.
The 12-kilometer, 6-meter-high fence surrounding Melilla is perhaps the main symbol of 'Fortress Europe' at present. On one side, this fence, whose construction cost European taxpayers 30 million euros, is guarded by Moroccan soldiers, and on the other, by Spanish Civil Guards.
A similar fence, only half as high, surrounds Ceuta and is also guarded on both sides by Moroccan and Spanish troops and police, but this does not prevent migrants from storming the walls almost every night and often overcoming the obstacle. Last year, according to Frontex, about 7,000 illegal migrants entered Ceuta and Melilla.
Without any doubt, this flow, as well as the tidal wave of migrants heading to Europe from Africa and Asia via the Mediterranean, will only increase. And if Brussels continues to pursue the same tough immigration policy, the situation could spiral out of control and lead to a social explosion.
Sergei MANUKOV.
«Expert Online»