Many people leave their native country in search of a better life. And in recent years, it is more and more recurrent to see Africans nourished the desire to immigrate to other countries where according to them flow milk and honey. To reach their goal, these young people take very risky routes such as the sea. Between embarrassment and discontent, we wonder why we should risk our lives for an uncertain future.
The Central Mediterranean Route is a migration route across the Mediterranean Sea from the west coast of Libya to Italy or Malta. It isthe main route to the European Union from Africa. “The crossing of the Mediterranean is terrifying… So much that you can’t say everything…I’ve never been in prison in my life, but in Libya I’ve been in prison… Once, twice, three times. In Libya, I saw young girls prostitute themselves to get food, just for a baguette”. These are the words of an ex-migrant; Yancoubou Badji reported by Franceinfo Afrique. The crossing of the Mediterranean remains a suicidal and murderous journey in human history. According to Frontex, a European border and coast guard agency, 1/3 of migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean in 2015 were Syrians. The other migrants also come from countries at war or in a situation of great vulnerability, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast…
The Mediterranean, a cemetery for migrants
On the Mediterranean, there is a certain scarcity of help. The crossing to Italy is more perilous because it is a longer route than the one to Spain, Morocco, Turkey or Greece. Also, the NGOs working in this framework do not have such a large rescue capacity. In this noble but difficult task, only the NGO Aquarius, works today with Doctors without Borders and SOS Mediterranean. The other major difficulty is that these non-governmental organizations have a lot of trouble finding a port to dock in. In addition, smugglers put migrants at great risk in overcrowded and unsuitable boats. They take perilous directions just to escape the coast guard. Communication between rescue NGOs is sometimes very poor. Besides the cold, the climatic and meteorological changes, the lack of fuel, food and drinking water, the crossing of the Mediterranean remains the most terrible and infernal of the migratory march.
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What is the reason for leaving your country illegally?
Indeed, it is at least essential to recognize that engaging in a journey of this kind on big waters can be fatal. The causes of extracontinental migration are legion. First, the lack of employability leads some young people to think that there are better opportunities elsewhere. Nevertheless, some of them leave their country to study or to join their families on the other side of the sea. For others, political crises and criminal violence are factors in their migration. Secondly, persecution, social pressure and the regularity of natural disasters do not allow the implementation of development projects in which the youth can work. Thirdly, in most of these countries, the State has not set up competent migration structures to help young people migrate legally. In addition, the few existing structures have great difficulty in issuing visas to young people to enable them to travel within the norms.
Setbacks of the situation
The countries that register more migrants are actually the first losers. They strip themselves of their able-bodied arms and sometimes even of their brains. This obviously reduces the workforce. Migrants bring enormous benefits to host countries, especially in economic terms. They strengthen the workforce and create real wealth for the country. The other side of the situation is that thousands of migrants die every year across the sea. Once they arrive in the host countries, some migrants are sometimes turned into slaves. Others are killed and their organs harvested and traded. In addition, child rape, sexual harassment, child labor, prostitution, and forced marriage are all consequences that work against migrants.
To remedy this problem, national and international leaders could address the issue of immigration that is increasingly depopulating African countries. And for this reason, put an end to wars in order to fight effectively against hunger and poverty. Nevertheless, this phenomenon must be supervised to avoid the numerous losses of human life. Leaders at the state level could put policies in place to help young people find work and feel more at home. No one is a prophet in his own home, as they say. But is that enough to embark on a journey at the risk of his life?