According to Frontex, “in the first half of 2022, there were about 114,720 irregular entries to the European Union, according to preliminary calculations. This is about 84% more than in the same period last year. The most significant increase was recorded on the Western Balkan route, where the number of detections increased nearly 3-fold compared with the first six months of 2021. This increase can be attributed to crossing attempts by migrants already present in the Western Balkans.”[1] When attempting to predict the influx of migrants in the foreseeable future, add droughts, famine and the current food and energy crises – as a result of global warming and the war in Ukraine – to the many political and economic reasons migrants have when fleeing their country.
Such are conditions in parts of Africa and the Middle East that the findings of Frontex could not be any more conclusive. More specifically, “on the Central Mediterranean route, Frontex registered 25,164 irregular border crossings, 23% more than in the first six months of 2021. […] On the Eastern land border route, Frontex registered 2,452 irregular crossings, 141% more than last year. […] The Western Balkan route accounted for half of all the detections with 55,321 illegal crossings, nearly three times the total from the same period of last year. […] The number of detections on the Eastern Mediterranean route remains high with 17,957 arrivals (+125%) due to the steady number of arrivals to Cyprus (12,407).”[2]
The issue of migration certainly continues to dominate the agenda of the European Union as people seek entry points to European Union territory from all over the Mediterranean and the Balkans, not to mention the more than seven million people that have fled Ukraine ever since the Russian invasion. The staggering number of illegal (often undocumented) migrants reaching the European Union serves as a constant reminder of the various risks that surround human trafficking, including capsized boats in the Mediterranean Sea, drugs smuggling and sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, while migrants start their journey in hope of a better future, lives are lost long before they reach their dream destination.
When some 2,000 migrants attempted to storm the border fence separating the autonomous territory of Melilla from Morocco at the end of June 2022 to gain access to the Spanish enclave, twenty-three migrants lost their lives. This highlights once more the significance of curbing human trafficking and assuring safer borders. A few weeks later, the European Union and Morocco issued a joint statement addressing matters relating to improving border management and policing, as well as increasing collaboration between relevant European Union and Moroccan agencies.[3] Since 2015, when more than a million refugees arrived in Europe, it is more than obvious that there is still room available to improve policies and practices alike.
References:
[1] Frontex, EU external borders in June: Western Balkan route most active, https://frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news/news-release/eu-external-borders-in-june-western-balkan-route-most-active-oPV0mM, July 14, 2022
[2] Frontex, EU external borders in June: Western Balkan route most active, https://frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news/news-release/eu-external-borders-in-june-western-balkan-route-most-active-oPV0mM, July 14, 2022
[3] Deutsche Welle, EU, Morocco announce joint anti-trafficking effort after migrant tragedy, https://www.dw.com/en/eu-morocco-announce-joint-anti-trafficking-effort-after-migrant-tragedy/a-62414386, July 7, 2022
Christos Kassimeris, PhD
Professor Christos Kassimeris heads the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at European University Cyprus and is coordinator of the BA in European Politics and Communication. Before joining European University Cyprus, he was teaching European Integration Politics and International Relations of the Mediterranean for three years at the University of Reading. He is the author of European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), Greece and the American Embrace: Greek Foreign Policy Towards Turkey, the US and the Western Alliance (I.B. Tauris Academic Studies, 2009) and Football Comes Home: Symbolic Identities in European Football (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2010), editor of Anti-racism in European Football: Fair Play for All (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009), The Marketing of War in the Age of Neo-Militarism (Routledge, 2011) and The Politics of Education: Challenging Multiculturalism (Routledge, 2011), and has several publications in political science journals. He is also Visiting Research Fellow at the University of De Montfort.
