"Migration is not a crime"
And why we all need to understand why displacements increase, to feel more sympathetic, and learn about what led the world to this situation...
Dear friends and readers,
Our summers have become a continuous series of losses for desperate people in the Global South, trying to reach our shores.
This summer 2023 was no exception, and was deeply marred by rather tragic climate events - from fires to droughts and floods - that can only let us think the more people will have to move more, and leave their homeland not only to find work but to survive.
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has written about “the necessity to step up national, regional and international efforts to address human mobility challenges associated with environmental factors and climate change.”
IOM’s vision on migration, environment and climate change is that “contemporary migration governance, policy and practice must reflect the significance of environmental, disaster and climate change factors on human mobility.”
Environmental factors must be integrated across all areas of migration management, such as: prevention, preparedness and response to displacement, border management, labour migration and integration, and return and reintegration.
Sadly, no government able to host migrants seems to have at least begun to reflect on the issue.
Meanwhile, more tragedy happened.
At least 63 migrants feared dead after boat found off Cape Verde
https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20230817-migrants-feared-dead-after-boat-found-off-cape-verde
Missing migrant after six die in boat tragedy
Rights group accuses Tunisian forces of abuses against African migrants
Ethiopia unveils joint Saudi probe into alleged migrant killings
France and the UK are often their intended destination, and have been for a while, for obvious reasons: location, family connections, language skills due to colonial links, job market, need for cheap employment, domestic growth, etc.
But since the wars in Afghanistan and Syria, and the increased arrival or refugees from South West Asia, the political leaders of the two countries have deeply pushed an anti-immigrant sentiment, for their own electoral interests.
As the latest news show…
UK: Contentious barge docked on coast began hosting first migrants
France charges four over migrant boat tragedy in English Channel
A convergence of human choices also explains why migration is soaring.
Deep political and geopolitical problems made the moves worse, especially the war in Libya from 2011.
France largely supported the intervention, which led to a catastrophic lack of governance and major insecurity, on top of a fragmentation of power in the different parts of the gigantic North African country.
Until then, Libya’s leader Mouamar Gaddafi had invested massively in African economies, and also controlled the routes now left unsure, from the Sahara to the Mediterranean coasts.
To understand the balance of power in Libya, and how it impacts the Sahel region and Europe, through the influx of migrants, here is an analytical article:
Spike in violence shows Libya remains crippled by rival armed groups
Following a year of relative calm in Libya, fighting erupted again this week in the capital Tripoli. The UN-backed government remains powerless in more than a third of the country, whose people have not seen an election in almost a decade.
Finally, as a reminder of these bleak events, it’s worth mentioning that French investigative magistrates have decided that former president Nicolas Sarkozy will go on trial in 2025, with 12 others, over the Libyan funds he (mis?)used for his own campaign, before pushing for a war again the man who supported him financially.
The charges: illegal campaign financing, embezzling, passive corruption. Sarkozy received millions from Gaddafi's government for his 2007 presidential campaign.
The case is the biggest and most shocking of multiple corruption investigations involving Sarkozy. In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Gaddafi with high honours, but then put led the NATO-led airstrikes that helped topple the Libyan leader in 2011.
Read more here: In Le Monde in English:
Or in the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/world/europe/sarkozy-trial-france-libya-corruption.html
All these events and articles show that migrants won’t have much choice but to keep on moving…
Migration is simply not a crime, and should be a right, at a time of increased danger.
You may remember this Banksy piece…
And as a spiritual nomad, I can only support them, wish them good luck, and try to participate in explaining the phenomenon.
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Until recently, as a freelance journalist, I travel and report on migrations in Nairobi & Dadaab (Kenya), Bangui (Central African Republic), Tunis, Istanbul (Turkey), Paris, La Roya & Calais (France), Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan), Ventimiglia (Italy), London and… Bristol (UK).
I was mostly covering post-conflict issues and the refugee crisis for different European radio stations and magazines.
For more insight, some older articles I worked on:
Refugees welcome?
After the closure of the Calais migrant camp, French charities call for more state help with accommodation
For IPS - 07.03.2017
https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/refugees-welcome-1887/
Refugees in the UK: Safe haven or hostile environment
Public Pression - June 2019
The UK is often described by its political leaders or the right-wing press as the favoured destination for a lot of asylum seekers fleeing wars and political oppression. This claim has been for years used to reinforce the discourse against immigration and, since David Cameron’s government, the UK has shown less and less support for refugees. But the reality shows that people fleeing their country often arrive in the UK, not by choice and that they struggle in a way they are not prepared for once waiting to get asylum granted here.
https://magazine.publicpressure.io/refugees-in-the-uk-safe-haven-or-hostile-environment/
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Thanks for reading, as usual.
Do write if you feel like it.
With my best wishes,
melissa
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Melissa Chemam
Journalist & Writer
Site: https://sites.google.com/view/melissachemam