In early November, Italy decided not to withdraw from the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in February 2017. The MoU established a framework for cooperation between Libya and Italy “in the development sector, combating illegal immigration, human trafficking and contraband, and strengthening border security”.
A Policy Paper published by the European University Institute and authored by Eugenio Cusumano (Leiden University) and Matteo Villa (ISPI) questions the relationship between the presence of NGOs in the Mediterranean sea and the number of migrants leaving Libyan shores.
Over the last few months, global TV networks have transmitted images of waves of people fleeing from Central America (CA). Many of them came so far as to risk their lives by trekking 3,700 km carrying children on their backs, crossing two to three borders illegally and fording torrential tropical rivers. These images de facto called attention to a phenomenon that is eradicated in CA, the causes of which bear strong economic and social implications.
Italy has a migration problem, just not the one it thinks it does. To illustrate the challenges facing the country, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini continues to point south, at people coming by boat across the Mediterranean.
As global migration has increased in recent years, international attention has focused on the electoral success of anti-immigrant political parties and populist leaders in Europe and North America. But just as the movement of people across international borders is not limited to countries in those regions, nor is the politicization of the immigration issue.
Since the peak of the European refugee crisis in the summer of 2015, the ‘management’ of migration and refugee flows between Africa and Europe is high on academic and policy agendas. A dominant perception is that European development aid has a significant role to play in stemming present and prevent future massive influxes to Europe. This shall primarily occur by way of reducing the root causes of forced displacement and improving migration management.
Many Europeans fear that the adverse effects of climate change might create the next huge wave of African refugees trying to reach the European shores. And yet, according to numerous studies, human mobility in the context of climate change in Africa is mainly happening within countries or between neighbouring countries. But what else do we actually know about “climate migration” in Africa? And which policy recommendations could be formulated?
In President Donald Trump’s February 5 State of the Union Address, he all but strayed from his unwavering stance that there is a national crisis at the southern U.S.-Mexico border, due to the supposed illicit crossing of immigrants who threaten “the safety, security, and financial well-being of all America”. Trump did, however, voice his favor for legal immigration, and the responsibility the U.S. has to protect those who have entered the country legally.
Just one week away from the Marrakech conference where world leaders are expected to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), discussions are heating up, both in parliaments and in the media.
Unseaworthy dinghies, swinging in rough seas, having to withstand the weight of men, women, and children. Hundreds of thousands of people, marching together towards Hungary’s barbed-wire fences. European diplomats, desperately looking for a way to manage the chaos. Soldiers at the borders, crammed reception centres, shoes washed up on shores.
