Migration in the Mediterranean

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Migration in the Mediterranean

• Venice, 4 December 2008
• Jesmond Xuereb

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Migration in the Mediterranean
Venice, 4 December 2008 Jesmond Xuereb
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Introduction

• Immigration and Emigration in general
• Migration in Europe
• Migration in the Med
• The Maltese context
• EU initiatives and operations in the Med
• Issues to be tackled
• Conclusions

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Migration in Europe and the world

• 200 million international migrants worldwide
  almost 3 of world population with half being
  women (UN statistics)
• Almost half the world population (mostly in
  Africa) lives with less than 1/day
• Europe from emigration to immigration
• 64 million immigrants in Europe (53m in Asia, 51m
  in N. America)

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Why do people migrate?

• Migration is a global phenomenon which is
  becoming a priority issue on the political and
  social agenda of the EU. Migratory flows are no
  longer limited to traditional routes with
  specific countries of origin, transit and
  destination. Poor socio-economic conditions in
  countries of origin make people decide to leave.
• Reasons for migration may be
• Political political and social instability,
  war and civil strife, human rights abuse,
  repression and persecution, ethnic cleansing
• Economic gaps between developed and developing
  countries, increasing workforce mobility
• Demographic population growth issues, declining
  birth rates
• Environmental natural disasters, ecological
  degradation, climate change
• Push factors poor economic conditions
  (unemployment...), armed conflicts, human rights
  abuses, discrimination, overpopulation, natural
  catastrophes
• Pull factors mainly social and economic
  welfare of countries of destination

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Regular and irregular immigration

• Freedom of movement and worker mobility in the EU
• Illegal and irregular immigration
• Border control systems are not enough to stop
  illegal immigration
• Need for duly regulated immigration channels
• Countries will compete for skilled and qualified
  workers

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Immigration in Europe

• Major migratory flows towards Europe from
• South America
• Africa
• Central Asia
• Eastern Europe

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Migration in Europe

• A typical (irregular) immigrant
• Migrates to look for work opportunities
• legal entries that become irregular with
  unauthorized work and overstaying visas
• Migrants are typically active citizens, mostly
  young people
• Migration occurs partly through informal networks
  (like family reunion) and partly through
  organized groups that dedicate themselves to the
  smuggling and trafficking of human beings

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Migratory routes in the Med
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Immigration the Maltese context
Total number of boat people arriving ashore rose
from 24 in 2000 to over 1500 up to September 2008
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Immigration Maltese Context

• "Relatively speaking, 967 illegal immigrants in
  Malta translate into the arrival of 135,380 in
  Italy, 145,050 in France, 96,700 in Spain and
  198,235 in Germany. This is the magnitude of the
  problem of illegal immigration in Malta where the
  population density is 1,200 per square
  kilometre. Michael Frendo, former Minister of
  Foreign Affairs, July 2006

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Legal situation

• Irregular immigrants are taken to detention
  centres where they may be kept for a maximum of
  18 months.
• In the meantime, they may apply for refugee
  status if they can prove that they left their
  country of origin to escape persecution or
  life-threatening situations.
• If they do not qualify for refugee status, they
  may be granted humanitarian protection. In these
  cases, they are released from detention and they
  often go to the Open Centres, run by Government
  or NGOs. Conditions here are very poor due to
  overcrowding.

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Immigration The Maltese Context

• Around 45 of immigrants landed in Malta have
  been granted refugee (5) or protected
  humanitarian status (40).

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Year Refugee Status Human. Protection Rejected Total
2002 22 (5.3) 111 (26.5) 268 (68.3) 419
2003 53 (9.3) 328 (57.7) 187 (32.9) 568
2004 49 (5.6) 560 (64.5) 259 (29.8) 868
2005 36 (3.3) 510 (46.3) 556 (50.5) 1,102
May 2006 12 (2.1) 272 (47.1) 293 (50.8) 577
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FRONTEX The EUs External Borders Management
Agency

• Based in Warsaw, FRONTEX intends to reinforce
  border security, assuring the coordination of
  Member-states actions on applying communitarian
  measures of external borders management
• It coordinates operational cooperation between
  Member-states in the field of external borders
  management, supporting them in the training of
  national border officers
• It endeavors risk analysis
• It trails the evolution of relevant investigation
  in the field of surveillance and control of
  external borders
• It follows up the development of research
  relevant for the control and surveillance of
  external borders
• Assists Members States in circumstances requiring
  increased technical and operational assistance at
  external borders
• Provides Member States with the necessary support
  in in organizing joint return operations
• It also cooperates with third countries border
  security authorities, in line with general EU
  external policy.

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Operations by FRONTEX

• Joint operations launched in 2006, in the Med
• CANARY ISLANDS HERA
• EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN - POSEIDON (took place in
  the Eastern Mediterranean Sea area and on the
  Greek Turkish land border)
• CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN NAUTILUS (Malta)

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Observations

• Destination countries benefit from migration for
  it has a positive impact both on the overcoming
  of national shortages on the labour market and
  also by increasing the active population volume.
• Over 70 of demographic growth of the last
  decade, in the 27 EU Member States, is due to
  migration.
• Population ageing constitutes a significant
  European problem we need to find ways of making
  up for the the decline of the active population.
• Estimates indicate that in 2031, around a half of
  the European territory will have 30 of
  non-active population.

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Issues to be tackled

• Citizenship policies
• Fight against terrorism and organized crime
• Common asylum policy
• Migration management
• Integration
• Security and comprehensive management of external
  borders
• Cooperation with countries of origin and transit
• Aid programmes for developing countries

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Conclusions

• A balance between open door and zero
  immigration policies is needed. Controlled
  migration benefits (1) countries of origin, (2)
  countries of destination and (3) immigrants
  themselves.
• Controlled migration enhances the respect for
  immigrants rights and reinforces the fight
  against illegal immigration, terrorism and
  trafficking in human beings it helps to
  maintain internal security and to properly manage
  social perceptions on immigrants in the receiving
  countries.
• Regularizing the position of immigrants to
  decrease illegal work lessens the possibility of
  exploitation and xenophobia, and it benefits the
  economy.

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Conclusions (cont.)

• The EU Member States need to intensify economic
  cooperation and to develop trade and
  co-development, including conflict prevention, to
  reduce the root causes of migration.
• There needs to be more cooperation with origin
  and transit countries, in terms of joint
  management, border control and readmission
  issues.
• The Hague Programme of 2004 was an important step
  by the EU in this field. It promotes the
  implementation of a space of freedom, security
  and justice - the main priority of the EU. The
  Hague Programme also set up a number of priority
  actions to be pursued during the period between
  2004/2009. It provided the necessary linkage
  between migration and development.
• This year, another important development took
  place just a couple of months ago. This
  follows the principle of solidarity, that is one
  of the basic principles of the EU, as Member
  States may now agree to take in a number of
  immigrants from the border states that have the
  highest concentrations.