The Back Way is No Way to Go! Breaking the Gambian Myth about Illegal Migration to Europe

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2 The Back Way is No Way to Go! Breaking the Gambian Myth about Illegal Migration to Europe 1

3 The villages are quiet, local football teams struggle to find players and the girls outnumber the boys more than ever. Every day someone else is gone, every week more and more young men and some women plan and hustle to get money to get to Europe the Back Way. Lawlessness, anarchy and easily bribable border guards in Libya have increased the chances of getting on a boat to Italy. It has also increased the chance of getting on board an unseaworthy, overloaded vessel and paying from $1,000 to $10,000 to drown in the Mediterranean. This is big business, the murderous and cynical business of the people traffickers, worth over $76 billion annually. The false dream of making it in Babylon is still perpetuated over countless evenings of drinking green tea with friends all over The Gambia. People talk about the success of various friend s brothers, fathers or uncles, who 20 years ago, went to Europe, found a good job, built their parents a compound, paid all the school fees for the entire family and regularly sent money for rice and other needs. Try to explain that this was perhaps possible some years ago but that the worldwide economic downturn has impacted heavily on their chance to find work in Europe. You will be greeted with comments such as, They are just saying that because they don t want us to go. When you explain about the perils of crossing the desert, the dangerous situation in Libya, the extortive prices charged by people smugglers and the inadequate boats likely to break up before reaching their destination they say: If you are going to die it s because it s the will of Allah and if it s your time it s your time, this will never stop me. 2

4 It is not just the Italian Navy patrols who find these desperate migrants floundering or dead in the sea but countless wrecked boats and bodies are washed ashore along the 1,100 miles of the Libyan coastline, without going anywhere. Some of the desperately unseaworthy, overcrowded vessels never even make it far off the coast without sinking. They were never meant to. Some are made of unsuitable materials, guaranteed to sink but also guaranteed to make the traffickers a tidy sum from people with no other choice but to trust them with their lives and hand over $1,000 for a voyage to nowhere. Tell them that so many who went are now disheartened sitting in detention centers, without enough to eat, wishing they had never left home. Many of them traumatized from their difficult and arduous journey having witnessed, perhaps, the horrors of being lost at sea, with their fellow passengers dying from dehydration, hypothermia or drowning if the boat capsizes. Tell them that just this year alone 90,000 human beings have been rescued from the 3

5 water and that 2,500 people are dead or missing, whose mothers and wives will never hear anything again from their sons or husbands. They will laugh and tell you: If I have the chance I will go, nothing can stop me, boys are going all the time, why not me? Show would be migrants the testaments from those in holding centers, people who left home with a dream of becoming big men, kings, with enough money to provide for everything at home. Now they only want to be sent back but are afraid they will be scorned and criticized by their friends and families for reaching the hallowed shores of Europe and returning with nothing to show for it. Explain that many of them are terribly homesick and say they were happier at home but you will not be believed and they will tell you: Ah but me, I can make it! Even photographs of bodies lined up on foreign beaches or rescued people sitting in shock, wrapped in blankets, crying after witnessing the sea full of floating corpses are not a deterrent. Wild stories of people being shot in the water by Italian police abound but this too will not stop them from planning to go, often financially aided by their family or community. 4

6 One young man, a taxi driver from the North Bank of The Gambia, left his family, wife and young son, made the difficult journey to Libya and managed to get a place on a boat headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa. They were told they would reach there within two days but when two days turned to three and there was still no sign of land panic descended on the boat. It was like a living hell, he says: You are there on the water, you don t know where you are or if you will see land. The drinking water is gone, the weather is terrible, people are vomiting everywhere and some people died. Eventually they reached the shores of Malta and were incarcerated in a detention center. They told me I might sit there for up to two years, you can t even go out and walk around. I thought about my father, my mother, my wife and child, they are my best friends and I might never see them again. I asked to go home and they sent me back. Now I tell everyone not to make this journey. What they tell you is there is quite different from what you find. You will suffer; there is nothing there for you, the problem is they still don t believe you. The factors which have led to such unprecedented numbers of people making the journey are possibly understandable when people are fleeing from persecution, extreme poverty or conflict and war. But what about those who are eating every day, whose lives are not at risk and whose sole aim is financial gain? Immigrants from The Gambia, for example, who prefer to risk life and limb rather than use the money they have saved for the journey to start a business or invest in agriculture at home. Only to find out, if they are lucky and arrive safely, that the depressing truth is, there is no Eldorado out there and no guarantee of success. Europe, with all its own problems of unemployment and poverty, really doesn t want them and can t really manage the huge numbers arriving, more than 65,000 so far this year. More than likely they will join the ranks of other migrants hanging around with nothing to do and no prospects. 5

7 So many are regretful: I lived a better life at home than I do here, is a common cry: If I had known what I know now, I would never have left but without money I cannot go back. So when calling family or posting photographs on Facebook they give the impression to those at home that all is well and it is only a matter of time before they make it big. This, of course, only serves to maintain the myth that the streets of Europe are literally paved with gold and money is there to be picked from the trees! The Gambian Government and Immigration Department, headed by Director General Pa Mboob, are anxious to halt this dangerous exodus of its citizens. The West African Development Organization (WADO) is planning a program of talks and film shows to schools and communities, in conjunction with the Immigration Department, to illuminate the stark reality of going the Back Way and the multiple hazards involved in taking such desperate measures to follow a path littered with exploitation, death and hopelessness. Schemes such as micro finance and advanced skills training offer a way out of poverty and unemployment, a chance to make it in The Gambia 6

8 without embarking on illegal entry to Europe. The West African Development Organization (WADO) is working on alternatives to assist citizens to prosper in their own communities and educate people against the futility of risking their lives for a dream that for most turns out to be their biggest nightmare. Lindsay Tunstall Index Relevant articles; Page 9-10: Migrants tell migrants: 'Don't come to Italy' BBC News 10 May 2014 Page 11-12: Mapping Mediterranean migration BBC News 15 September 2014 Page 13-16: Lampedusa disaster: Europe's migrant dilemma BBC News About the Author Page 17: Lindsay Tunstall About the African Development Organization Page 18: The African Development Organization Other publications: Page 19: The Charter of Tolerance 7

9 Page 20: Is Water the new Oil? Migrants tell migrants: 'Don't come to Italy' 2014 By Julian Miglierini BBC News 10 May "My fellow countrymen, don't come to Italy, you will starve," says Jose from Angola, looking straight into the camera. 8

10 "This country is in a serious crisis, and it affects migrants too," says Roshan from Sri Lanka, with a stern face. "To be an illegal migrant in Italy is to face hunger and desperation," adds Niemel from Pakistan. They are some of the migrants in Italy who, speaking their own languages, took part in a video published online that got Italy talking this week. The video was produced as part of the European election campaign of a candidate for the rightwing, anti-immigration Northern League (Lega Nord). Angelo Ciocca, the candidate, told the BBC that the migrants had willingly participated in the video, but that he had written the messages. He wants the video to go viral and make its way to the migrants' countries of origin, to warn them off coming to Italy. But Mr. Ciocca also admits that the video serves another purpose - winning Italian votes. Desperate voyages There has been a surge in the number of migrants reaching Italy's southern coast in the last few months. Yet the issue of clandestine immigration has been relatively absent from the campaign debate ahead of the European elections. 9

11 So a party like the Northern League - often accused in the past of using xenophobic messages to attract votes - is doing all it can to stir interest in the issue and become the voice of Italians concerned about the arrivals. Its new leader, Matteo Salvini, has called for suspension of the Italian Navy operation that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean. Many migrants sail from North Africa in overcrowded, rickety boats. Mr. Salvini says the rescue operation encourages migrants to come to Italy. The League needs votes. The party, which came to life in the early 1990s calling for the secession of parts of Northern Italy, has lost support. Much of the protest vote it used to attract has vanished - gone to the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement, led by Beppe Grillo. And a corruption scandal in the League's top ranks - which provoked the resignation of its erstwhile powerful leader, Umberto Bossi - damaged its image as an anti-corruption movement. The latest polls suggest it will get around 5% of the national vote - half what it got in the last European elections. Observers say the return to the party's anti-immigration roots could prove a skilful move, reaching some voters who see migrant arrivals as a threat. But so far the video appears to have had little effect on migrants - this week alone, more than 4,300 men, women and children were rescued in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Italy. Mapping Mediterranean migration BBC News 15 September 2014 In the space of a week, at least 750 migrants are feared to have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Many thousands of others have risked their lives this year, fleeing conflict and instability in Africa and the Middle East, in small, often decrepit vessels in an attempt to reach European territories. But the number of fatalities has risen dramatically in a matter of months. More than 2,200 lives have been lost since June, the UN refugee agency UNHCR believes. 10

12 That is because of the big increase in numbers crossing the Mediterranean. While some 60,000 reached European shores in 2013, so far more than 130,000 have arrived in The majority of migrants head for Italy, prompting a crisis that the country's navy, coast guard and beleaguered immigration facilities are struggling to handle. Last October, 366 people died off the Italian island of Lampedusa when the fishing boat they were travelling in from Libya capsized. Nearly all the victims were Eritrean. Migrants crossing in the central Mediterranean - from Libya and Tunisia - have until recently come mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, although increasing numbers of Syrians fleeing the country's civil war are also making the journey. Libya has become a popular starting point for many journeys, with people traffickers exploiting the country's power vacuum and increasing lawlessness. The relatively short distance to Lampedusa encourages more people to risk the journey. Migration charities believe that as many as 20,000 people may have died at sea trying to reach Europe in the last two decades. Malta's prime minister warned after the Lampedusa tragedy that the Mediterranean was in danger of becoming of a "cemetery" for desperate migrants. 'Age-old' issue 11

13 The number of people using the various routes across the Mediterranean has ebbed and flowed. From , large numbers of migrants crossed between Turkey and Greece via the socalled Eastern Mediterranean route, border management agency Frontex reports. In response, Greece bolstered border controls with an additional 1,800 police officers. However, Frontex suggests that the area remains problematic, and points to "uncertainties related to the sustainability of [Greek] efforts, and evidence that migrants are waiting in Turkey for the end of the operation". Over the last decade, the central Mediterranean route has experienced periodic surges in migrant traffic. UNHCR figures suggest that some 25,000 people fled to Italy from North Africa in 2005, a number which dwindled to 9,573 in In 2011, this figure rocketed back to some 61,000, driven by the conflict in Libya which culminated in the downfall of Col Gaddafi. Earlier in the decade, the most popular route was from West Africa to Spain, including its North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla, and the Canary Islands, with some 32,000 irregular arrivals in This figure had dwindled to just 5,443 by Lampedusa disaster: Europe's migrant dilemma BBC News 14 October

14 Migrant disasters The migrant boat disaster off Lampedusa has highlighted Europe's struggle to deal with boatloads of migrants - many with legitimate asylum claims - heading across the Mediterranean from North Africa. For years the tiny Italian island - closer to North Africa than Italy itself - has been the destination for many African migrants fleeing poverty, conflict or persecution. Between 1 January and 30 September this year, 30,100 migrants reached Italy on boats from North Africa, the UN's refugee agency UNHCR says. The biggest groups were from Syria (7,500 in total), Eritrea (7,500) and Somalia (3,000). Both Syria and Somalia have been ripped apart by war, while in Eritrea thousands are either imprisoned on political grounds or face conscription into the army. Under international law refugees fleeing persecution have a right to asylum, but when hundreds of migrants come ashore the authorities have the difficult task of identifying the genuine asylum seekers. Often they lack papers to prove their nationality or place of origin. Lampedusa is overburdened with migrants - the island's normal population is just 6,000 and its migrant reception centre has a capacity of just 250. The capacity was reduced after a fire there in

15 Reception centers in Sicily and mainland Italy are better equipped, but "there is always a need to enlarge the centers because the system is under a lot of pressure now", Federico Fossi of the UNHCR in Rome told the BBC. He said the Lampedusa centre provides basic help for migrants - food, clothes and medical attention, including psychological care. Many have survived ordeals at sea, or at the hands of ruthless people-traffickers, and are traumatized by that and the abuses they have fled in Africa or the Middle East. Libya hotspot The UNHCR has urged Italy to transfer Lampedusa migrants from the centre there to others in Italy after 48 hours maximum. It has welcomed an Italian plan to expand those centers to a capacity of 16,000, from the current 3,000. "Italy needs more money from the EU - this year we are witnessing a large number of arrivals, but every year in the summer we have a peak and we have to be ready for that," Mr. Fossi said. The migrant influx is a headache for struggling Italy at a time of budget cuts aimed at reducing the country's colossal debt burden. The EU's border agency Frontex says "the institutional capacity to tackle irregular migration in North Africa remains limited" and "Libya is of the biggest concern in this respect" because Libya remains plagued by violence, kidnappings and fragmented institutions. In its report on illegal migration to the EU in 2012 Frontex said Libya was the main departure point for migrants heading across the Mediterranean to Italy. But in 2011 there was a surge in migrant boats arriving from Tunisia, because of the Arab Spring uprising which toppled the country's president. More than 64,000 Tunisians came ashore in Italy and Malta that year. The exodus from there dropped sharply after September 2012, when Tunisia agreed to take back up to 100 Tunisians per week from Italy. Now Frontex and the UNHCR are worried about a marked increase in the numbers of Syrians arriving in overcrowded boats after days at sea in the Mediterranean.Michal Parzyszek, a spokesperson for Frontex, said 2012 saw the biggest number of asylum claims in the EU since a total of 272,208. Frontex is helping Italy to intercept migrant boats, but the two EU operations in the southern Mediterranean have limited resources - a total of four ships, two helicopters and two planes, Mr. Parzyszek said. The Tunisia emergency was followed by the Libya emergency, when thousands of African migrants fled the war which eventually crushed Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime. 14

16 According to Mr. Fossi, the wave of migrants from Libya consisted mostly of Africans who had been working there and were economic migrants, rather than people fleeing persecution. The Libya exodus was a new phenomenon - the migrant boats from Libya had dwindled to a trickle under a deal between Gaddafi and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy had helped Gaddafi to prevent the boats leaving Libya's shores. Many migrants who reached Italy from Libya have since moved on to other EU countries. In May this year German officials accused Italy of giving African migrants up to 500 euros ( 420; $680) each as well as Schengen zone visas, enabling them to leave Italy and head north. Schengen visas allow holders to travel to most EU countries without having their passports or other documents checked at the border. Italy gave the migrants some money to help them integrate after the Libya emergency was declared over at the end of 2012, Mr. Fossi told the BBC. The migrants had to leave the reception centers, but it was not official policy to encourage them to leave Italy, Mr.Fossi said. Heading north For many migrants the goal is to travel north in the EU, for example to Scandinavia, the Netherlands or UK, where they hope to find jobs and less hostility from anti-immigration groups. Greece, Italy and Malta have complained that the EU's current asylum system puts an unfair burden on them. Under the EU's Dublin II Regulation asylum requests have to be handled by the country where the asylum seeker first arrived in the EU. The recognition rates differ seriously: for Sudanese asylum seekers the rate is 2% in Spain, whereas it is 68% in Italy Some EU countries, including Finland and Germany, have stopped sending asylum seekers back to Greece because the country's reception centers are overcrowded and Greek officials have said they cannot cope with the numbers. Greece's land border with Turkey was the main entry point for illegal migrants entering the EU, but the numbers dropped sharply there after Frontex sent police to help Greek border guards in 2010.However many migrants, including Syrians, are still arriving on Greek islands by boat. The Dublin II Regulation is under review, along with the rest of the EU's asylum policy, as the migration issue has become divisive in Europe and worries many voters. The EU's Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem, has said "there is a strong need for a common European asylum policy", as 90% of asylum seekers are taken in by just 10 EU countries. That means that 17 countries could do much more... 15

17 "Equally, member states differ very much in the way they assess asylum requests. In fact, the situation is extremely arbitrary. The recognition rates differ seriously: for Sudanese asylum seekers the rate is 2% in Spain, whereas it is 68% in Italy. "Such disparities are not acceptable in an EU where we have signed the same international conventions and unite around the same values," she said. About the Author - Lindsay Tunstall 16

18 Lindsay Tunstall was Director of The Harrow Complementary Health and Back Care Clinic and later Millennium Healthcare before joining the African Development Organization as a volunteer, where she is Project Manager, mostly in The Gambia, and supports the organization with her writing skills. She is currently working with a new successful school project in The Gambia where a German friend leads a team of motivated police officers, trained as teachers, and includes children with special needs. The African Development Organization 17

19 African Development Organization (ADO NGO) based in Malta is a non-governmental organization that promotes and supports development initiatives in the areas of infrastructure, education, agriculture and health. We aim to: Promote welfare activities aimed at the alleviation of people's misfortune and overall amelioration of society especially for the poor, helpless, and the weak. Contribute towards international objective goals, in various spheres of development, for example the Millennium Development Goals (MDG s) Inspire and support collaborative approaches to mobilization around shared equity and justice concerns, promoting the inclusion of gender equality principles and practices within all the approaches. Initiate an honest discussion about gender equality, poverty, health, child mortality problems and increase awareness of people about local issues. Our mission is to initiate new projects towards regional development: Global elearning project Micro Finance projects Alternative Energy & "Waste to Energy" project And many more The African Development Organization has created a network of partners across Europe to supports all projects. Partners are: The Paula Marckx Foundation in Antwerp-Belgium and the Poland-Gambia-Africa Foundation in Warsaw Poland. The African Development Organization and its subsidiary the West African Development Organization initiates projects through a network of regional organizations: REFESA, NACIFAG, NAYAFS, GWF and the Youth Ambassadors to name a few. More information is available at; 18

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