The migration crisis is reaching numbers unseen in years. Southern European countries, including Italy, are forced to take special measures.
The migration crisis from Africa to Europe is reaching new highs in 2023, as the first quarter of the year saw record numbers. According to a United Nations report, the first four months of 2023 saw the most drownings while crossing since 2017.
The numbers are truly staggering. According to the UN report, 441 men, women and children died in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to cross it. Those that were shipped back to Libya, where most of them sail from, number in the thousands.
Migrants come mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the poorest regions in the world. They escape conflict, famine and overall seek a better quality of life.
The trip is truly hellish and involves a journey across the Sahara, a clandestine life in Libya and an extremely dangerous Mediterranean crossing on barges. Many people die in the process, and very few eventually live the life they dreamed in Europe.
In Libya, migrants risk being caught and imprisoned if discovered by authorities. Being sent to a Libyan prison is an almost guaranteed death sentence, according to many observers.
“In life, when you see you’ve lost everything, you’re not afraid of anything anymore,” a migrant told Al Jazeera. “You don’t see the waves. You just see a boat. And that’s your chance to get your freedom again.”
An European crisis
For obvious geographic reasons, the Southern European countries are the ones where most migrants land. Italy, in particular, reported that over 31,000 migrants arrived on the country’s shores in 2023 alone.
The Italian government instituted a state of emergency earlier this week. Last month, a tragic crash on the shores of Southern Italy killed 73 migrants, which prompted the nation’s executive to take immediate measures.
“With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalized. States must respond,” said an Italian general.
Nevertheless, Italy often outcries that it cannot conduct rescue efforts alone. While the European Union spent over €90 million to fund the Libyan coastguard and stop the migration, such efforts were inconclusive.
Libya is an extremely unstable nation that only recently achieved a fragile peace following a decade-long civil war.
Further, other European nations often stop migration at their own border, after migrants have already landed on European soil. France, for example, has set a strict border patrol on the Italian border to precisely stop migrants crossing.
Italy has been asking for help from the European Union with little to no avail. Meanwhile, the migration crisis is reaching a new peak.
