9 June 2021 | Volume 80 | Edition 3
Europe Locking Down and Locking Out With the rise of Covid-19, the pandemic has dramatically reshaped the global migration and mobility landscape and has added a layer of complexity facing the governments in West and Northern Africa, as well as across the Mediterranean. By Josh Raynham Staff Writer Source: Renata Brito / AP News
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hilst migration has not stopped due to the virus, the number of m i g r a n t s e n te r i n g Europe has decreased by 26.6% compared to the same period in 2019. This is mostly due to the regulations being put in place by European governments. However, the closing of borders and the increased mobility restrictions have seen migrants being forced to use more remote and often hazardous alternative routes. The Canary Islands are one such area which has seen an increase in migrant arrivals since the beginning of the pandemic, with a 520% rise since 2019. This journey over the Atlantic proves to be a perilous one. According to the International Organisation of Migration’s Mis sing Migrants Project, at least 850 people died
in 2020 attempting to reach the Canary Islands, whilst other s ources claim that number could be well into the thousands. However, as restrictions begin to ease off the number of refugees entering Europe across the Mediterranean is predicted to increase once more. As seen in one of the most recent encounters on May 18, 2021, more than 8,000 refugees attempted to cros s over from Morocco into the Spanish-governed e n c l av e o f C e u t a . Climbing over barbed wire fences or swimming across a wild strip of the Mediterranean Sea. The 48-hour siege saw the Spanish authorities overwhelmed by the desperate attempts of refugees seeking a better life. Migration across the Me d ite r rane an has continued, however, c ou nt r ie s s uc h a s
Italy and Malta have declared their ports unsafe - quarantining migrants on boats for long periods of time before returning them to their countries of origin.
“...restrictions have seen migrants being forced to use more remote - and often hazardous alternative routes.” Other countries – such as Spain and Greece – have reduced these return operations, mainly due to the United Nations Network of Migration, which calls for their suspension during the pandemic. This has resulted in the increase of refugee camps along the European coast. Migrants are getting stuck between a rock
and a hard plac e, unable to move further or return to their countries of origin, they end up getting stranded in a foreign place often with a lack of healthcare and with little to no protection against the virus. Calls by the international community to raise funds for these camps, however, fall on deaf ears. COVID19 and migration are transnational in nature and therefore transnational approaches are required. However, this is made difficult by the diversified impacts of the pandemic on national societies and economies. This may lead some European States to diverge from a m ig rant c e ntre d approach to one which prioritises European interests, thus hindering the identification of shared approaches o n m ig ratio n that are currently being
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negotiated between the African Union, Economic Community of West African States ( E C O WA S ) , Arab Maghreb Union, and European Union. With all this uncertainty it may see regulations b e i ng put fo r ward which would allow for the tightening of b orders even af ter th e p an de m ic h a s subsided. The impact which this pandemic has had on migrant journeys from Africa and the surrounding states to Europe has taken its toll, and with Covid-19 still very much present, the statistics are bound to fluctuate. However, lo oking towards adopting policies and allowing for a safer flow of migrants coming out of countries riddled in conflict and economic decline can be seen as a step in the right direction.