The EU’s pact signals the bloc’s most ambitious attempt to harmonise its migration policies. Yet, experts sound the alarm over its silence on search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
African migrants attempting to flee to Europe disembark in Sfax from a vessel belonging to the Tunisian coastguard, after having been intercepted at sea, on 10 August 2023.
Fethi Belaid/AFP
The argument is a familiar one: African citizens are unaware of the risks tied to the perilous journey across the Mediterranean and the West must therefore enlighten them.
The NATO-led military intervention in Libya has just fuelled more violence.
Members of the NGO ‘SOS Mediterranee’ during the rescue of more than 250 migrants on a wooden boat off the Libyan coast.
EPA-EFE/Christophe Petit Tesson
Carola Rackete, captain of an NGO search and rescue ship, was arrested by Italian authorities when landing in Italy. She isn’t the first to be criminalised for trying to save people at sea.
Migrant boat spotted by Moonbird aircraft on May 29 in the Mediterranean.
Moonbird/Sea-Watch
Gibraltar’s decision to terminate permission for the Aquarius to conduct operations in the Mediterranean is the latest example of national politics undermining rescue at sea.
Waiting at the asylum registration centre at the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Orestis Panagiotou/EPA
Leader of Research Group “The Production of Knowledge on Migration” at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück University
Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity, University of Birmingham