While the leaders of the countries of origin scrupulously observe the extent of the phenomenon beyond their borders, Europeans have been working for decades to provide the best possible solutions to a worrying problem that they owe to themselves first to be able to control in order to subsequently be able to improve the harmful effects in their societies. Indeed, there are more and more irregular arrivals on European coasts. More and more asylum seekers. More and more foreign nationals are demanding better living conditions outside their countries of origin, thus forcing host countries to improve their policies for dealing with irregular immigration to better benefit from a demographic flow all the same necessary because if indeed the migratory flows from Africa to Europe are annoying, we cannot deprive ourselves of cheap foreign labour in a continent which has a greater number of aging populations.
A growing phenomenon over time
The toughening measures may seem shameful and inhumane to some but they are partly justified by the worrying scale of a crisis which dates from the early 2000s and in particular from 2008 with record arrivals which amounted to more than 153,000 people and which seven years later in 2015 exceeded a million individuals and increased further over the years, thus considerably increasing the number of asylum requests which amount to several million even without taking into account the millions of Ukrainians who fled the war to find refuge in several European Territories.
Whether we like it or not, even with a reform of migration policy, Europe will not be able to respond favourably to the demands of these millions of foreign nationals who are looking for a better future without collaboration from the countries of origin. The situation is so complex that even a good majority of the countries of origin do not want to contribute to the repatriation of their nationals. Everything happens as if they were asked to make the return trip as they did the outward trip. Another restrictive measure even worse than the first because “during the last quarter of 2023, of the 105,000 third-country nationals ordered to leave the European Union, only 28,900 were returned. »
The cause of migrants is taken more seriously at European level. Indeed, when it is not non-governmental organizations which express their opposition to the consequences that could result from the adoption of certain laws, it is certain State institutions of the Member States of the European Union which reject certain legislative proposals thus allowing refugees and other foreign residents to have a less stressful stay in their host country.
A migration and humanitarian crisis
At the level of transit points, efforts are still necessary not only to return migrants but to treat them with dignity despite the fact that they can sometimes be noticed negatively to the point of increasing the animosity of certain locals for whom their presence is annoying. Although agreements similar to those signed with the Tunisian State were signed in March 2024 with Mauritania and Egypt to better tackle this problem, the complexity of the problem does not mean that inhumane means should be used to dissuade migrants from going to Europe via these transit points. Indeed, in July 2023, at least 25 bodies were found in a desert area. According to Human Rights Watch (an independent international organization which campaigns for respect for human dignity in the world), 1,200 nationals from sub-Saharan Africa were forcibly expelled from Tunisia by Tunisian authorities and abandoned to their own devices comes out in the desert area located between Tunisia and Libya to the East, and Tunisia and Algeria to the West. While some were able to be saved, some died and others escaped with psychological trauma, particularly because of the physical violence’s.
Also read : Concerted border protection policies and reduction in illegal mass exoduses from Africa to the rest of the world.
The problem is complex and requires adequate measures to be better controlled and allow a decent existence not only for those who will have authorization to reside formally on the European Territory but also those who will not have it and sometimes find themselves in wandering at borders in difficult conditions while waiting for a better future.
This phenomenon of irregular and arbitrary immigration has certainly required a pact and agreements respectively between Member States and partners with regard to the points of reflux and subcontracting of asylum requests, but it will require more additional efforts necessary to guarantee the security of those mainly concerned in a context of increasingly criminogenic hostilities and plagued by illegal trafficking orchestrated by very powerful mafia networks of illegal smugglers.
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