Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:18:37 +0200
Risking a watery grave for a better life
30 September 2014
This year has seen an alarming rise in the number of asylum seekers and
migrants from Africa who try to reach Europe by sea in the hope of finding a
better life; often with fatal consequences.
On 26 August, footage was released showing bodies washed up on the Libyan
shore.
<http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/170-migrants-feared-lost-at-sea-off-l
ibya-1.1375618> Reports indicate that a makeshift boat with 200 migrants on
board had capsized during the night on Friday, 22 August, off the Libyan
coast. Some 170 people are feared dead, all of African origin. Only a few
days later the media announced the disappearance of another 500 migrants who
had left from Egypt. According to the survivors, traffickers had
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/migrant-boat-capsizes-egypt-ma
lta-traffickers> deliberately sunk a boat loaded with hundreds of people.
These mass drownings add to an already heavy toll of maritime tragedies in
the Mediterranean Sea. One of the most infamous incidents occurred off the
<http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/lampedusa-and-the-plight-of-african-boat
-migrants> Italian island of Lampedusa in October last year, when 366
migrants perished. The situation is reaching alarming proportions, and
should sound a warning to the world.
The international community, through the International Maritime Organisation
(IMO) – the United Nations’ (UN) body for maritime affairs – has an
important role to play in preventing these tragedies.
<http://www.issafrica.org/about-us/press-releases/world-maritime-day-2014-af
rican-states-should-make-good-on-their-maritime-commitments> Yesterday, 25
September, was World Maritime Day. This year’s theme was ‘IMO Conventions:
effective implementation.’ It is time for an effective and sustainable
solution to be found. As
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/france-calls-for-a-refugee-summi
t-with-300-feared-dead-in-italys-lampedusa-disaster/story-e6frg6so-122673355
5421?nk=c5aba34d6c8366ac0069ae4401241c54> Jean-Marc Ayrault, former French
prime minister said, ‘compassion alone is not enough’ to prevent these
high-risk migration attempts that so often end up as ‘convoys of death.’
Responsibility for the migrants’ deaths is shared by their destination
countries and the countries where they come from. Immigration (destination)
countries arguably bear responsibility because they have an obligation to
monitor their maritime approaches and assist coastal transit countries in
monitoring theirs. A destabilised country like Libya, which has become the
main transit point of migrants to Europe – can argue that it should have a
right to receive assistance from European countries in monitoring its
coasts.
This does not absolve the transit countries of responsibility. Indeed, these
states are primarily responsible for monitoring their territories –
including at sea. A convoy of hundreds of people takes time to get moving,
and should be noticed by local authorities. As long as authorities leave the
traffickers to their business, the stream of deaths will continue.
Of course, these deaths also point to the economic and political reasons
that drive migrants to seek a better life. It is often suggested that
poverty is the main cause of migration by sea, although this is not always
true. Many poor people would have difficulty paying the large sums of money
required to reach their destination.
<http://www.lejdd.fr/International/Afrique/En-Libye-au-coeur-de-la-filiere-L
ampedusa-640315> According to one Libyan smuggler who operates openly, the
passage between the Libyan coast and the island of Lampedusa costs between
US$900 and US$1 200 per person (whether this person is a newborn, child or
adult). Additional expenses include ground transportation and accommodation.
Illegal migrants who cannot afford these expenses generally use another,
equally dangerous, technique: they hide in a container, a hatch or
compartment of a ship. These stowaways often die of hunger, thirst or
disease, or suffocate before the end of the trip. It is under these
conditions, for example,
<http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/health/2014/06/24/police-trying-to-identif
y-dead-stowaways> that two dead bodies were found in June this year onboard
a vessel in the Durban harbour.
In some cases, migrants are reportedly thrown overboard alive or cast adrift
on makeshift rafts. According to the IMO,
<http://www.igpandi.org/downloadables/submissions/imo/FAL%2038-6-2%20-%20Sto
wawaysInternational%20Group%20of%20P&I%20Clubs%20Data%20on%20Stowaway%20case
s%20%28P&I%20Clubs%29.pdf> most stowaways are from West Africa. In the
period <http://www.nsempii.com/?p=5233> from 2011 to 2012, Ghana and
Nigeria were vying for the top spot in terms of the number of stowaways
discovered (around 260 and 250 individuals respectively, out of a total of 1
640 worldwide). In the same period, the port of Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) was
the most permeable, with about 76 cases.
Whatever the method used, these migrants are all seeking a better life
outside their home country, where they might face political suppression,
religious fundamentalism, civil wars, armed rebellions and ethnic
segregation. For example, the majority of people killed in the tragedy of
Lampedusa of 3 October 2013 were, according to a report from the
International Red Cross, from
<http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/press-releases/europe/italy/lampedusa
-urgent-action-needed-to-stop-ongoing-tragedy/> Eritrea – a country under
extreme autocratic rule.
The IMO does not have a specific convention dedicated to the smuggling of
migrants by sea. The UN organisation has instead introduced guidelines of
good conduct in favour of stowaways in
<http://www.imo.org/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/Convention-on-
Facilitation-of-International-Maritime-Traffic-%28FAL%29.aspx> the
Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic 1965, which is
primarily aimed at facilitating maritime traffic.
At present the IMO, in keeping with its World Maritime Day theme, is
conducting an assessment of its conventions. It must assume ownership of the
<http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/smuggling.html> Protocol Against The
Smuggling Of Migrants By Land, Sea And Air, supplementing the United Nations
2000 Convention against transnational organised crime. This protocol has
been in force since 28 January 2014 and aims ‘to prevent and combat the
smuggling of migrants, as well as to promote cooperation among State Parties
to that end, while protecting the rights of smuggled migrants.’
African countries should implement policies that create better living
conditions for their citizens, as well as undertake awareness campaigns
around the risks attached to the illegal immigration. Transit countries
should assume the responsibility for tracking and punishing traffickers,
with or without the support of the destination countries.
Destination countries should equally increase their support to initiatives
that aim to monitor the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Italian operation
<http://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/Europe/L-Italie-lance-la-mission-Mare-Nos
trum-2013-10-16-1043279> Mare Nostrum. Finally the IMO, in addition to its
guidelines related to stowaways, should promote the aforementioned protocol.
It is only once each party takes a share of the sacrifice that an effective
solution can be found.
Barthélemy Blédé, Senior Researcher, Conflict Management and Peacebuilding
Division, ISS Dakar
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