One issue that is uniting our political parties to take a common stand and defend Maltese interests is illegal migrants trying to reach European shores.

From a historical perspective, migration is by no means a modern phenomenon, but the age in which we are living has been dubbed ‘the age of migration’.

Moreover, the world has moved from classic migration to illegal forms of migration where immigrants enter a country illegally. 

There is also a new trend in migration especially in the rise in the numbers of migrants on the move; diversification of types and reasons for migration; globalization, as migration involves more countries; and feminization, as the global labour market seeks domestic and sex workers.

Whatever the reason for migration, the recent bullying tactics adopted by Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini for Malta to take on the nearly 700 immigrants stranded on the Aquarius has brought to the surface and further highlighted the seriousness and volatile situation of the migration problem affecting mainland Europe. 

One must bear in mind that there is an African continent of about 800 million inhabitants and one million of them are ready on the shores of North Africa (especially Libya) ready to make the risky trip to Europe.

Salvini’s approach epitomizes the emerging new general European sentiment on illegal immigration and brings to mind similarities with the “zero-tolerance” policy being adopted by the US on its borders.

Is Europe perhaps trying to gradually emulate the American stand on migration? Will we see the Americanization of European immigration polices rather than co-operation and solidarity in the face of similar crises?

If Europe goes in this direction, we might see a repeat of the heart-breaking scenes we saw on the US-Mexican border, where nearly two thousand children were separated from their parents since a "zero tolerance" policy was adopted for those entering the US illegally.

Several European countries (such as, Hungary, Poland, Austria, and now Italy) are already tightening their immigration policies as they resort to building walls, barriers and barbed-wire fences to stop migrants crossing into their territories.

The emerging rifts on what constitutes the nearest port of call to take immigrants are another form of wall building and lack of co-operation between countries in the EU.

In the wake of these crises, where emergency and urgency measures are called for, one may further ask: Are Europe and the US becoming increasingly cruel and immoral when they implement such policies to protect their national boundaries from migrants?

Slowly but surely, these measures pinpoint the fact that Europe has reached saturation point with regard to the numbers of entrants to its countries and cannot leave its borders wide open to signify acceptance of these unauthorized immigrants.

It is evident that these severe US and European reactions are not because of racist, ethnocentric or xenophobic prejudice but because of economic considerations, though one must mention that far-right wing parties are a reality in EU states.

It is also paradoxical how Europeans are leaving their own country legally due to lack of work opportunities in their homeland while African migrants risk their life to make it to Northern Europe to start a fresh new life.

On the other side of the world, we watch the Trump administration holding firm on its policy not to allow migration through its frontiers by adopting a segregation policy. Children are separated from their parents at the border, which brings back haunting memories of the dark past where children were segregated from their parents at Nazi concentration camps. 

The US could have adopted a more humane approach by prosecuting illegal immigrants but keeping families together in temporary shelters while their cases are pending. No law should victimize the innocent, especially children.

Since April 2015, the European Union has struggled to cope with the crisis of illegal immigration as the number of deaths at seas rose to record levels especially in April 2015.

 

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The Valletta Summit on Migration, held between 11 and 12 November 2015 brought together European and African Heads of State and Government in an effort to strengthen co-operation and address current challenges but also to explore the opportunities of migration. 

Leaders participating in the summit adopted a political declaration and action plan designed to:

·       Address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement.

·       Enhance co-operation on legal migration and mobility

·       Re-inforce the protection of migrants and asylum seekers.

·       Prevent and fight irregular migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. Trafficking and smuggling networks is the fastest and increasing type of crime. Traffickers usually make choices on the migrants’ movements.

·       Work more closely to improve co-operation on return, re-admission and re-integration.

Italy’s recent refusal to allow the non-governmental rescue ship Aquarius to enter its ports reveals a trend of belligerent approach taking place on a global level. Even more serious is Italy breaching its international duties. In the face of this, one might ask: Where is the co-operation and solidarity in the Mediterranean as spelt out in the pronouncements of the Valletta Summit of 2015?

If co-operation on a European level is just lip service and if human rights are not respected as is happening in the current European and US approach to immigration, it would take more than summits and diplomacy for a win-win solution and a definitive plan to control such an influx of human beings.

 

Anthony Zarb Dimech