2023-08-28 23:24:01
From Rome
There is no end to the drama of desperate migrants trying to reach Europe, by sea or by land, to try to give their families a bit of hope and a better life. There are 107,530 migrants who have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, more than double the number who arrived in all of last year (52,954).
But Italy, and Europe in general, do not seem to have understood that this phenomenon will not stop easily, due to climate change (great droughts and climate disturbances throughout the world) that has become more evident in recent months and to the poverty that it has also been aggravated by the conflicts and wars that continue to plague many countries in Africa and Asia.
Most of the migrants who embark on this adventure come from Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, the Republic of Congo, Zambia, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine, according to the World Organization for Migration (IOM). United Nations entity. And most of them do so without knowing the endless problems they will have to face because the European Union does not accept them easily. For months the EU has been discussing a new agreement on migration, but the measure could not go ahead because right-wing countries such as Poland and Hungary were opposed. But last June, when the interior ministers of the EU countries were meeting in Luxembourg, an agreement was reached that still must be approved by the European Parliament anyway.
One of the most contentious issues in the debate was the definition of the so-called “safe” countries to which migrants who are not accepted in Europe can be deported. In any case, the agreement includes the distribution of migrants who arrive at the main European arrival points, such as Italy and Greece. And the distribution to the other European countries will be made taking into account the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country and the population.
In the event that they cannot be relocated, the host country should receive compensation of 20,000 euros for each migrant to finance the costs of managing the case.
The European Union also signed an agreement in July with Tunisia, a key country on the migration issue because a large part of the barges organized by human traffickers depart from its coasts. With Libya (another of the countries where migrants leave), Italy had signed an agreement in 2017 during the government of Paolo Gentiloni (of the progressive Democratic Party).
The agreement with Tunisia, signed by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. and Tunisian President Kais Saied aims to “comprehensively address the migration crisis,” Meloni declared. But since the signing of this agreement, the barges coming from Tunisia have increased, according to statistical sources, more than 30%.
The agreement with Tunisia meant that the African country would receive 105 million euros from the EU to control the departure of migrants from its coasts and the return of irregulars found in Europe who do not have the right to asylum. It is enough to remember that migrants have the right to asylum as refugees, only if they escape from wars, conflicts or persecution of different kinds, not from poverty. And desperate migrants don’t know this. Or if they know it, they don’t give it importance, thinking that they will be able to avoid all these problems. But apparently the agreement, if Tunisia has received the promised money, has not changed the situation in the Mediterranean.
The agreement with Libya, considered the country with the most traffickers in human beings in 2017, did not produce results either. This agreement has recently been re-confirmed by Meloni. To both countries Italy donated some ships, it was said, to help the local coast guard.
In principle, migrants who arrive in Italy and whom Italy does not want to accept could be redistributed in Europe, thanks to the agreement signed in 2022 by 15 EU countries and 4 non-EU countries. But it will not be easy to organize this redeployment, which has not yet started but could start in September, after the European summer holidays are over.
The Meloni government, through a decree referring to migrant flows, has established that the country, in the next three years, should open its doors to some 450,000 foreign workers, offering them work as plumbers, electricians, caregivers for the elderly, etc. One of the countries with the oldest population in Europe, Italy needs a workforce and this has been repeated by large Italian companies that do not know how to continue if there are no young people available. Most likely, these jobs are given to people already settled in Italy, not newcomers. But in this sense, everything is yet to be defined because laws still in force that limit the entry and possibility of working for foreigners must be changed.
Those who arrive by land
Far fewer migrants arrive by land. Almost 9,000 have arrived this year through the so-called “Balkan route”, that is, they enter through northern Italy, particularly from Slovenia and Croatia. The gateways are mainly Trieste and Gorizia, both in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region that borders Slovenia.
And despite the fact that there have been protests by right-wing mayors, some communities have organized to receive them, such as the city of Padua (Veneto region) which has organized gyms to accommodate them.
Some more open mayors ask that the reception system be organized in such a way that migrants can learn Italian and know the fundamental laws and customs. Others, on the other hand, such as the center-right mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza, maintains that the army must be used to block the crossings through which migrants pass.
Ships keep saving people
Meanwhile, the NGOs, humanitarian organizations such as the Norwegian Ocean Viking, the Spanish Open Arms, the German Sea Watch and Sea Eye 4, among others, which with their ships continue to try to help migrants in danger at sea and that the The extreme right has “christened” the “Mediterranean taxis” (as if the migrants paid them to get to their destination), they continue to have problems with the Italian government that tries by all means to limit them, block them, issue fines.
In the last few months, these ships have made about 150 rescues. Ocean Viking, for example, saved 623 people in the largest operation seen in the Mediterranean. But its action remains limited by the Italian Coast Guard, which is trying, by government order, to reduce cooperation with NGOs to a minimum.
Other ships, which despite all the limitations, saved many other migrants at sea, were suspended for 20 days and will have to pay fines of up to 10,000 euros. Among these Aurora by Sea Watch, Open Arms and Sea eye4. Despite everything, they have prevented the death toll in the Mediterranean from continuing to increase, which in 2023 has so far been 3,472 and in 2022 more than 7,000.
In southern Italy, where thousands of migrants arrive by sea, especially on the island of Lampedusa (the closest to the African coast), people welcome them and help them. But now the reception centers are overcrowded. There is talk of 3,593 migrants, including 193 minors, who are hosted in Lampedusa. On Sunday, 7 boats arrived on the island with a total of 325 people, added to the 3,595 already in existence. Luckily 947 of them were transferred to other reception centers in different parts of the country.
Apart from the tragedies, when the Ocean Viking arrived at the port of Naples on Monday with 254 migrants saved in a sea particularly rough due to a storm that was spreading throughout Italy, the migrants burst into applause and began to sing and dance as a sign thank you.
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