http://neurope.eu/article/libya-refugee-route-threatens-europe/
MARCH 21, 2016
The Libya refugee route threatens Europe
By Monnet Matters
While the European Union spent weeks scrambling to reach a deal with the Turkish government in order to control the refugee and migrant wave via Turkey, Greece and Balkans, the so called ‘Libya route’ has remained wide open.
Italian officials are blaming the good weather for a recent increase in migrant crossings from Libya. Just last week, at least 3,000 migrants made the journey from Libya.
As reported by The Associated Press, some 712 migrants were picked up on March 17. This is in addition to the 2,400 migrants from the two previous days. All of them were crowded in small, flimsy rubber dinghies and stranded in international waters near Libya. Three bodies were found during the rescue operations undertaken by mostly Italian ships on March 15.
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that 9,800 migrants arrived in Italy this year through March 16, compared with 7,400 in the same period last year. UNHCR spokeswoman Barbara Molinario said it is too early to speak of trends and this kind of concentration in short periods is not unprecedented — even if periods of calm seas in the winter are limited.
Most of the migrant arrivals so far this year are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Molinario said. It is a flow that indicates that the closures along the route from Greece have not led to a shift of the people in that area toward Libya.
“They are the same that transited Libya last year, and not the Syrians, Afghan and Iraqis who go through Greece,” she explained. “There is no sign of a change of route although we don’t exclude that there can be one.”
The unresolved crisis in Libya threatens Europe for many reasons. Terrorism, drugs and cigarettes smuggling, as well as human trafficking are some of the issues that Europe needs to start worrying about in relation to the situation unfolding in Libya.
This North African state is in turmoil. It represents a route for human trafficking that connects the Mediterranean coast with the entire sub-Sahara region. As Islamic State advances and as the factions of the political establishment in Libya continue to fight each other, the land and the coasts are fertile for all kinds of illicit activities.
Meanwhile, war, famine, terrorism, environmental disaster, crime, unemployment and chronic poverty have formed in a lethal mix that is generating a constant human movement in most African states. A considerable part of them aim to reach Europe and the safety it offers.
And just because there is a massive wave of refugees and migrants arriving on the Greek island, does not mean that the other routes are closed and secure.
The Libyan route, as is the case with the other routes from Morocco, out of Ceuta, the Spanish territory in North Africa, is still open.
In the case of the Libyan route, it is necessary to be prepared for a refugee and migrant wave as soon as Turkey starts implementing the deal it reached with the EU.
And the solution in Mediterranean Sea is of course not to build one or many fences or to create ‘hot spots’ in southern Italy.
The solution can only be found at the end of the crisis in Libya. This is the direction the political forces must now move towards.
A political solution, however, is not yet possible because the two Libyan governments are nowhere near reaching an agreement. One obstacle is that foreign governments continue to play with the Libyan crisis. As such, they are helping the jihadist forces become more and more dangerous.
It is in our interest, in terms of security, for Libya to find the exit from the current dead-end situation. Those who are responsible for the bloodshed and the chaos must be pressed to end their involvement in trying to shape the future of Libya and, to some extent, our future as well.
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Received on Mon Mar 21 2016 - 07:09:33 EDT
