African migrants forced onto deadlier EU routes

A sigh of relief was breathed in the corridors of power in Brussels and Madrid over the summer when the expected influx of migrants to Europe’s southern coast largely failed to materialise.

Last year images of dehydrated and dying Africans arriving at the Canary Islands on wooden boats created political pressure that dominated interior ministers’ meetings.

Those images have not gone away this year. But the numbers of migrants arriving by boat have been cut back by an estimated 50%. Figures from the Geneva-based inter-governmental body, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), showed that while some 12,000 migrants had arrived in the Canaries up to the middle of August last year this figure was about 6,300 this year.

The IOM says there are various reasons for the reduction of numbers. Would-be migrants have been put off by systematic expulsions by Spain, allowed under an agreement with Senegal, one of the main routes for people heading to the Canaries. "In a way it’s sending a strong signal. Before, the perception was that if you made it to the Canaries you were sent to the mainland with a piece of paper saying you had to leave but then people disappeared into the informal economy," says Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the IOM.

Local groups in states such as Senegal are also doing their part to inform people about the dangers of taking the long and hazardous trips to the Canaries - and the likeli-hood of being sent back.

Chauzy also points to the pledges by some EU member states to accept some temporary labour from Africa as a way to give young people hope of another route into Europe. "Europe is beginning slowly to open the front door to migrant workers. If you think you have a chance to go to Europe without risking your life then you will take it," he says.

Another major factor is the increased surveillance in the waters around the Canaries. Frontex, the EU’s border agency, began co-ordinating joint patrols by EU member states off the islands earlier this year which have had success in intercepting boats leaving the African coast. Joint patrols have also included Senegal, Morocco and Mauritania, whose beefed-up border and marine patrols have largely cut off important routes used by people smugglers. "We have very closely monitored the phenomenon," says Ilkka Laitinen, the director of Frontex.

Laitinen says member states have also stepped up their efforts to make available to Frontex equipment such as helicopters, planes and boats, to take part in missions, making it easier to keep joint patrols going. But further pledges of equipment are needed if missions are to be continuous and surveillance increased, he says.

But the closing off of the corridor from west Africa to the Canary Islands has prompted smugglers to try other routes, the main one being through Libya and onto Malta or Italy via the Mediterranean.

The IOM estimates that 1,200 migrants have arrived in Malta this year. In Sicily 2,367 migrants were registered between January and May (down from 4,165 in the same period last year). On Italy’s island of Lampedusa, 3,513 migrants arrived in January to July.

Chauzy says there is anecdotal evidence that this route is being used more than before and that in some ways it is the most hazardous of all. Smugglers guide migrants through the desert for three weeks, charging them €10 for a litre of water. "And if a truck breaks down in southern Libya it may be very difficult," he says. Migrants then must face a perilous trip across the Mediterranean.

Laitinen says that, while Frontex hasn’t seen a "drastic increase" in the numbers travelling through Libya to get to Europe, a "displacement effect" would be expected once routes off the west African coast became more difficult. The key, therefore, would be to get Libya on board to co-operate in closing off their border and participating in joint patrols. This seems more likely since the once-pariah state moved closer to the EU in July with the release of six medical workers who had been sentenced to death.

But Chauzy warns that surveillance alone cannot stop migrants and that in some ways it can just make things more hazardous. "We have to recognise [that] border control is just one aspect and shouldn’t be the be-all in the attempt to ease migration. Smuggling networks will use routes which are much more dangerous. The effect of reinforced border controls means more people will use more dangerous routes and more people will die," he says.

A sigh of relief was breathed in the corridors of power in Brussels and Madrid over the summer when the expected influx of migrants to Europe’s southern coast largely failed to materialise.