Debate over migration governance has become more polarised, harming the relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean. The northern shore shouts across the sea: discourage irregular migration. The southern shore answers back: widen regular migration channel. If we want to overcome the current stalemate, we need to go beyond a dialogue obsessed only with migration. As Europeans we must change how we think and talk and behave towards our neighbours on the Southern shores.
Colonisers have come and gone, but their footsteps are visible to this day. We have not woken up from our post-colonial hangover yet. We still feel superior to our neighbours and lecture them at the least opportunity. We talk at them and do not listen to them and so we try to impose our priorities and agenda on them. We must sit down as equal partners and explore a common ground and a common agenda. We must have a frank and open relationship to be able to build trust with each other and work towards becoming equal partners.
We should go for a positive agenda. The European Union and African Union must together patiently and with perseverance engage with the Libyan authorities to recognise the status of UNHCR and IOM and involve them in the running of migration reception centres. But first we need to build trust between EU and Libya and reset our relations with them. EU self-righteousness and demonising Libyan authorities dealing with migration and stopping cooperation with Libyan coastguards will be counterproductive and make the situation worse. It is in the interest of Libya to be made safe for Libyans and migrants in Libya and we must all assist Libya in becoming so.
Only 10% come to Europe. We need an evidence-based approach on migration. The stigmatisation of refugees and migrants is polarising even the most diverse and tolerant communities. We must work to overcome the dangerous divide between those who defend the rights of refugees and migrants and those who defend the rights of citizens in receiving countries as if the twain shall never meet. While treating regular and irregular migrants with human dignity and without racial or religious prejudice we must also empathise with those citizens in receiving countries who feel their lives turned upside down with incoming migrants and address their concerns. A sudden influx of people can be disruptive if poorly managed.
Even Pope Francis, a great champion of migrants, made this point on 9th January 2017 in a meeting with diplomats: that every country should take in as many as it can realistically accommodate. That it is unfair that there are countries who carry a disproportionate burden and others who remain indifferent, and don’t help them. If we do not manage migration well, attitudes towards people on the move will continue to harden leading to more restrictive migration policies, detention camps and high walls.
We must continue granting asylum to those who qualify for it. We need to set the record straight as many Europeans think that many migrants all over the world are seeking sanctuary in their countries when in fact roughly 90 per cent of all refugees and asylum seekers currently reside in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, usually close to their countries of origin. There are over four million African migrants in Europe and 25 million migrants in Africa, making African countries also transit and countries of destination.
When it comes to irregular migration we need to secure borders and fight human traffickers in sending, transit and destination countries. We need effective training and funding schemes to reintegrate returned irregular migrants in sustainable business activity in their countries of origin.
At the same time we need to develop regular migration channels, including seasonal and circular migration, with countries from the southern shore of the Mediterranean and further south.
The pillage of talent with a smile
New Pact on Migration and Asylum that will help to address skills shortages in the European Union and to strengthen mutually-beneficial partnerships on migration with third countries. Matching the skills of workers from countries outside the EU with the labour market needs inside the EU, Talent Partnerships should become a key part of the EU's relations with partner countries when it comes to managing migration together. It was hailed as a “triple win” for all the parties involved - Member States, partner countries and migrants themselves.”
This proposal is not as innocent and beneficial as it looks. Talent Partnerships must not be the perpetuation of colonialism by other means as these can lock the countries of the southern shores of the Mediterranean into structural economic imbalances and dependency.
Thousands of skilled and qualified graduates leave North Africa for Europe. North Africa’s brain drain is Europe’s brain gain as it harvests the entrepreneurial and innovative energy and talents of the migrants. If the countries of the southern shore continue to lose such talent, where are the skilled and talented people they need for their own social development and economic growth going to come from?
A win-win approach to changing this structural imbalance and dependency would be if Europe and Africa both take nearshoring seriously and bring to the region supply chains and create Euro-African regional value chains to the benefit of the people of both continents.
Whatever options we propose we must still address the root causes of migration. UNCTAD estimates that EUR 76 billion (4% of the Continent’s GDP) leave Africa illicitly every year to rob it of the funds needed for infrastructure, power supply, water, universal access to health, education, and broadband internet service.
In 2020, 70% of goods from EU to Africa were manufactured goods. Over 61% of goods from Africa to EU were primary goods. Perpetuating these asymmetrical trade exchanges inhibits the growth of indigenous manufacturing and services sectors in Africa, needed to create the necessary jobs in this continent where 60% of its 1.3 billion people are under 25.
The African Development Bank says that while 10 to 12 million African youth enter the workforce each year, only 3.1 million jobs are created, leaving vast numbers of youth unemployed.
Unless these trends (compounded by the income gap between Europe and Africa, population growth in Africa, conflicts and climate change) are reversed, more young Africans will seek a better life elsewhere, regularly or irregularly. Europe and Africa must work together as equal partners to create a better life for the young people of the southern shores of the Mediterranean and beyond….