I live in Tunisia. The writer of this article is new to this issue. SOS Mediterranée, Aquarius 2, and other freelance so-called rescue navies from Spain and France are, with support from Members of the Idle Rich Class, rushing into the waters off Libya to supposedly "rescue" these illegal migrants. First of all, Tunisia is so close to Italy that you can see it. You can get there by jet ski, which people do. Malta is not much further. And a rubber dinghy is not going to sink on the usually tranquil Wine Dark Mediterranean sea on which you can prop up your martini glass without it tipping over. To drum up business, these freelance, modern Barbary Pirates have actually raced ahead of and plucked these economic refugees from the arms of the Libyan Coast guard, which Italy has rebuilt. Then they try to take them to Europe, instead of back to Libya. So safety is not the motive here. The Italians even yanked the vessel registration of the Aquarius 2 for violating international law. So don't give a sympathetic ear to these people who are only encouraging more lawlessness, and notice that all their passengers are for the most part work-age males who simply want to find work in Europe.
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Unlike Trump and his hateful followers, I have no problem welcoming these people. I guarantee you, once accommodated, they would lose no time becoming productive members of our society. These salt of the Earth people are what makes this country great. I don't need a hat to tell me that.
A funny old situation.
What would Mr Trump make of international charities operating to assist those Nicaraguans, Salvadoreans and so on in the 'column' to gain asylum in the US? I reckon those charities would soon find themselves under fire - just as they are in Italy, particularly.
Do you have NIMBYs (Not In MY Back Yard) in the US? Everyone is sympathetic to the migrants but nobody wants them.
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I have sometimes wondered when I read these news reports of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, do any reach Europe on their own? A few a year? Always the expectation seems to be that they have to be saved and brought to the promised land, Europe. Why no African nations step up and run lifesaving boats for their countrymen?
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It has been hours with no new activity in this comment section. Why? I feel that when the comments tend to contradict the NYT editorial bias then they get shut down, or, in this case, no new activity allowed.
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There is a breaking point for europe, and we really, really shouldn't try to find out when people will crack. Those rescue groups are ignoring that their actions are building up a countering momentum. The moment, europe start building detention camp, they have forfeit all their intention.
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We are experiencing the impact of overpopulation, particularly in places that can't sustain further growth. For some governments (Syria, Burma), insurgent groups (Boko Haram, ISIS, the Taliban) and criminal gangs (MS 13) oppression is a strategy to enhance their power by ridding their territories of excess people and potential opposition. That leaves room and resources for themselves. Unwittingly, Europe and the US abet this oppression with their asylum rules that oblige them to take in these refugees, even in their millions. Asylum policies were never meant to work, and cannot work, on such a scale.
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Reading this article, and also considering the current “wall” controversy in the U.S., it seems imperative that the first world intervene directly in Africa and Central America to address problems of failed state governments and birth control. Sad to say, but the world requires a new “benign colonialism” to bring a semblance of order and sanity to the third world before its victims wreck the first world.
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@Richard Katz I agree, birth control should be taught and implemented in all countries! If a person can't even take care of himself or herself, don't have any kids. If your country does not have the resources to support your society, do not have kids! Don't just have kids under difficult conditions and expect the world to take care of your responsibilities as a parent. If conditions in your home country change unexpectedly and a credible fear of political persecution arises, then you may be considered for political asylum.
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Morocco is a signatory to the the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. No one thought Morocco is a safe place? The fact is that as Italy well knows these rescued African migrants are not, with few exceptions, refugees. The statistics for the 2017 year are out of 130,119 applications 8.4% or 6,827 asylum seekers were granted refugee protection. The other problematic issue is that, virtually, no one can be repatriated and every migrant rescued knows this. Very few are deported, lack of travel documents and agreements with country of origin. The statement by the Mr. Kingsley that the Libyan coastguard refused to assist seems at odds with the SeaWatch 3 mandate, which is not to take shipwrecked migrants to an unsafe port. In maritime law there is not clear consensus on what constitutes a safe port - It could be another raft or a port in Egypt. That matter came to light over the Aquarius vessel which was stranded in the Mediterranean last summer.
https://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/italy/statistics
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Why is it that so many do not understand that today this world is overpopulated and the nations which will survive the attempted mass movement of people, driven both by this overpopulation combined with global warming's reduction in available land mass, will be those who turn off their borders soon. This may sound terrible to so many however unless this world begins to reduce its population soon most of our children and grandchildren will lose within the next century.
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It has always been a basic principal of maritime rescue efforts that shipwreck survivors are transported to the nearest port for their own safety and convenience, as well as creating the minimum disruption to the rescuers. If one looks at the map provided, Malta is no even close to being the nearest port. As it stands, these so called rescue services are acting more as a water taxi and less as a safety net.
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Look at the map, see how close to the African shore the migrants were picked up. What happens is, they take to sea in overcrowded boats that are not sea-worthy and are never intended to make it to Europe. Then they get "rescued" and transported to Europe by ships like this one, which function like a taxi service--non-profits ferrying migrants to Europe under the guise of rescuing people from sea.
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In just a couple of years the atttitude of Europeans about migration from Africa hardened enormously. What would this attitude be in 20 years, in 50 years, as the population of Africa ballons to the projected 4 billion? It is not difficult to guess. Europe will build walls, as some individual countries already have.
African countries have an unsustainable population growth. Niger, mentioned in this article, has the highest fertility per woman in the world, greater than 7. South Sudan, which has been at war, still has fertility close to 5. This is one of the main reasons for the ``grinding poverty''.
There is no alternative to population control in Africa. This can longer be considered ``cultural imperialism'' as we as humans are facing an emergency. We cannot wait for another 50 years as poverty and the resultant injustice grow even more intense.
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@Malone
EXACTLY!!
And the human and political ramifications of these Malthusian numbers extend to being the cause of climate change and the next great extinction of all the other living creatures besides humans on the planet.
I blame the right for blocking discussions of contraception and the work of organizations like planned parenthood; but I lay far greater responsibility on the left for their demonizing of people who are willing to connect the dots and look at the real cause - modern science and medicine and its capacity to allow unlimited population growth by those whose vision extends only to reproducing more copies of themselves out of mindless basic instinct and ego.
I personally cannot afford to buy my needed medicine and yet our small sanctuary city just let in a Congolese family (among others) with 10 children. Each of which will cost $10k per year just to educate... and as Malone says that family is just the camels nose under the tent; so we keep working to pay for these immigrants care and watch in horror as every empty lot is turned into more and more housing.
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@Malone This is the same problem with the migrants at our border. We don't want them and they should be returned to their home countries. Remember what happened to Merkel when she chose to let the world come to Germany. SHe is now on her way out the door and migrations policy has tightened up.
No developed country wants to take 3rd World migrants in. They are costly and often they spend their life on welfare.
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@Malone
Jobs and television are the best anticonceptives. When welfare rises, birth rates shrink.
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These migrants are the future of wherever they came from. They have to change their communities, their countries, fight if necessary, for a better life. How many Europeans and Americans did that in the last century? How many died for democracy? It is pointless to expect Europe to 'host' these millions, and millions more after them.
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@Docherty the problem is some of them are eligible to apply for asylum and could likely pass it and others would not. The story of the guy from Niger strikes me as particularly fishy, given I know that region well and his name and apperance do not denote someone from the Boko Haram overrun area. Further, the capital of Niger, Niamey is "safe." I would classify him as an economic migrant. The situation of the young man from South Sudan is more complicated but logically, he could likely have gone like most South Sudanese to Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, etc. where the aslyum claims for South Sudanese are processed, and many of them have found their way to the West via these countries. In any case, it's a shame that people have to die but it is important for these numbers to slow and for less people to make the journey to Libya in the first place. The majority of Africans attempting to get to Europe are not coming from Jihadi overturned regions but from the economic south of Nigeria, Ghana, Niger etc.. where they don't have opportunities due to corruption and tribalism.
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@A If you are starving, you can die. Why are people starving? Mostly because they don#t have enough money to buy food -> economic reasons. An "econominc migrant" as you classify the guy from Niger might have good reasons to flee from a situation where he might die from hunger, isn't he?
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@Andrea Yes, a starving person does have the right to flee . . . to the nearest refugee camp in an adjoining country where he/she can be fed and cared for until the famine is over, at which time he/she should go home. He/she does not have the "right" to cross innumerable borders to come to Europe. No such "right" exists, in the past, now, or in the future.
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This crisis has been solved today, as our minister of foreign affairs and his colleagues of 7 other countries agreed to divide the group of 49 amongst them. The whole game is of course quite cynical and directed to prevent other refugees from coming and private organisations from bringing peole on land in Europe. Pawns in a game that is driven by the populist right movements in the EU.
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@matteo And bravo to those evil "populists" for responding to their citizens wishes and finally stopping this madness. It's not in any way sustainable. I hope your esteemed interior minister Salvini sticks to his promise & refuses entry to any of these people. If 5 Star allows them to come in, Salvini should bring down the coalition government and call for immediate elections on the single issue of illegal migration. Democracy at work, no?
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Looking at the map that accompanied this article I couldn't help noticing that if these migrants traveled west by land, instead of risking their lives at sea, they could begin their lives anew in the relatively stable countries of Tunisia, Algeria, or Morocco. If their intent was really just to escape abusive husbands or civil war why not settle there? Or is their true motive the lure of lifetime handouts paid for by citizens living north of the Mediterranean?
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I am shocked twice.
First by the elegance and care that this article described the plight of these migrants and refugees. Where was on New Year's Day as they were buffeted by 40 mile and hour winds? What were my concerns as they vomited mercilessly, afraid for their lives, for their future?
The second time I was shocked was by turning on these comments and seeing the absence of care and empathy addressed here. Would it really hurt you so much to express some human sympathy for the difficult lives displayed here (or will you immediately return it to your own world, and to the issues of Mayor DeBlasio?)
We are on the brink of total breakdown as a result of climate change. These refugees, and the migrants gathered now in Tijuana on our southern border (the result of more inhumane actions by our president), are the forerunners of the future. They speak to a time when millions (instead of hundreds of thousands) will be on the move. This is the time to show how we will react when these are not far off migrants from far off countries, but ones much closer. Places like Florida and the lowlands of South Carolina, from towns like Paradise, California are already suffering and the suffering will only get worse.
Would it cost you—or us as a society—so much to turn from your petty concerns and embrace them, rather than scorn them? I am not a christian, but isn't this story told by the Good Samaritan?
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@Nico Jenkins There is humanity then there is practicality.
Being an Italian citizen and traveling to Italy regularly, I can attest that immigration is a genuine and serious problem.
There is little work for the citizens, much less the immigrants. You end up with crowds of immigrants with little to do. Drinking, littering, loitering are a problem.
I was taken aback by my hometown. How it had changed, unrecognizable.
With the population of Africa expected to balloon in the next 25 years and 80% of immigrants staying in the country they land it, at what point does being a good Samaritan cost everyone's well being?
Its unavoidable and unpalatable argument that must be had. This planet is overpopulated. And unregulated, poorly thought out charities/initiatives cost us all in the bigger picture.
What is the point of being a Samaritan saving one from starvation in one country only to let them starve in another? The view?
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@Nico Jenkins Dear Good Samaritan. Your tender feelings are noted; bravo for that. There is a place for tenderness in the heart. There is also a place for cool-headed evaluation of a dire situation and how to deal with it. I wonder how the original Good Samaritan would have dealt with, not one passing stranger, but 10 million of them who all wanted to aty in his house and eat his food. Your thoughts?
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Having read numerous articles like this in various newspapers in the U.S. and Italy, I'm always struck by how the stories given by various migrants about how they ended up on a dingy in the Mediterranean are almost always accepted at face value, with no skeptical analysis applied. Mr. Soumana is a case in point. Supposedly a trader from the north of Nigeria, threatened by Boko Haram, then (of course!) he had no other choice than to head out to Europe. But Mr. Soumana had many other choices. He could have moved to another part of Nigeria where there are no Boko Haram attacks or he could have moved to another peaceful African country. He also must have known from his friends who had made this trip to Libya before him what the conditions were like there (all the NIgerians I've met in Italy are constantly on the phone to their friends back home). So if Libya was so bad, why go there? One reason: maybe it's not as bad as Mr. Soumana claims. It clearly wasn't so bad as to deter him from going there. Another: to game the European refugee system and play the heart strings of gullible European "liberals" (I use this term broadly) so he could attain his ultimate goal of entering the Promised Land. And then what . . .? Italy, I'm afraid, is full up of Mr. Soumanas, all without work & expecting the Italian taxpayers to take care of them, clearly not a sustainable situation.
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@Lotzapappa
Well stated.
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These “humanitarian” organizations should work with the same diligence to promote family planning as they promote migration to Europe. They will not do that because there is no money to be made in that direction. We have to become aware of the fact that migration is a business. People are making money - lots of money by carting “refugees” to Europe. People in Europe are making money by exploiting the new arrivals. Bureaucrats are plundering national budgets attempting to care for new arrivals and now the negative reactions are beginning. Popes and ad hoc humanitarians can exhort all they want but the bottom line is the fact that Europeans are not going to deny their children or their fellow citizens what they have worked for in order to feed a flock of arrivals who are unable to provide for themselves.
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@Maureen I agree with the idea that we should promote family planning. I just wish there was some way to transport former President George W. Bush, a tireless advocate of abstinence only sex education, to Africa and keep him (and some other Republicans) there, preaching abstinence across the continent night and day, until they achieve brilliant success.
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Where will it end? Most migrants come from countries with extremely high birth rates, too many people creating extreme poverty and the violence that goes with it. Europe and the U.S. cannot take on the billions of poor of the world. We need to send aid in the form of birth control!! I am a lifetime Democrat, have never in my life vote Republican, but if Trump is the only one willing to protect our borders, well, he will get my vote! I am so sick of the Democrat's unwillingness to take on this enormous problem. We cannot take on the poor of the world!
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@Bette Andresen
Birth numbers have a 'life cycle'. In many African countries health care has improved, but wellfare and employment stayed behind. Bad government is a main reason for this situation. The best way to help is trading and marke access, that's how east Asia escaped from poverty and developeded with an astonisching speed. Fron China come only political refugees, no economical.
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Our mayor has announced that everyone in NYC illegally will be provided with free full-spectrum medical care, including specialists, by calling 311.
And suddenly I understand why countries are taking the actions they are against rescue ships.
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How does it make any sense to "rescue" these migrants 10 miles off the coast of Libya, but then claim that Italy or Malta are the only safe ports to disembark them? This is transparently a ferry service for illegal migrants that hides behind the identity of an NGO rescue organization.
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@Texas1836 It is not a ferry service, but rescue missions. And unfortunately, there are no legal ways for refugees from Africa to come to Europe to ask for asylum. Therefore they are obliged to risk their lifes on these rubber boats. But imagine, how bad must be their situation if they rather die on sea than being exposed to whatever they flee from?
And no matter, how far or close to the Libyan coast they were rescued, turning them back to Liby would be against the law. The Geneva Convention (which most European countries have ratified) doesn't allow bringing somebody back to a country where he is threatened by torture, ill-treatment or murder (all these things are most likely to happen to refugees in Libya). And, the law also says that if you cannot bring refugees back to a country where they are not able to ask for asylum. You have to bring them to a safe port. Libya is not a safe port.
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This was inevitable. There's no way the population of one continent can have unfettered access to another continent without some kind of backlash -- and unfortunately the recent rise of right-wing nationalism across Europe is the result.
Whether fleeing war or poverty, or a combination of both, it is simply impossible to address the needs of the hundreds of thousands thinking that a new life will welcome them once they reach Europe.
The only winners are the human traffickers
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In 376 the Visigoths, fleeing a violent Hunnic invasion, massed on the northern bank of the Danube and pleaded for asylum in the Roman Empire. It was granted.
I suppose we should admire the Romans for their humanitarian compassion.
Whatever became of them anyway?
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@Green Tea
After the Visigoths were granted asylum, by the Romans, they applied at the local Roman Empire welfare office for food, shelter and medical care - right?
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@Maureen
They did, in fact, and when the Romans were late with the payments they began raiding local towns and villages. The Roman army marched out to meet them at Adrianople. Go to Wikipedia to see what happened.
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@Green Tea
They became part of the Pax Romana and worked for their living, and payed taxes to the Romans. Probably they settled or were settled somewhere to do so. The Romans needed people that were grateful to them, to keep their borders safe and their state prosperous.
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Migration is the problem of our age. It begs a solution now, and will continue to haunt our consciences for a generation to come. Yes. It's true that the conditions these people endure - effectively stranded at sea - are inhuman, degrading and unfair. Perhaps we should open our borders to just them.
But the problem is those that will follow. If some of these thirty find streets that are metaphorically paved with gold, they will message to their family and friends back home. They will boast, they will brag. It's only human. And then those people back home will look on it as a right of passage to follow. To prove their manhood - because most of this group, and most migrants today are men - men of working age - men of fighting age.
If a developed country - especially an English-speaking developed country - were to open its borders completely, they would be deluged, not just by these thirty, but by the millions who are ready to follow them. The UNHCR put the number of displaced people globally last year at 68.5 million - and there are perhaps as many again living unsatisfying lives in unremitting poverty who would follow too. We just have to look at what happened in Germany a couple of years ago to see how even partly open borders could lead to a situation which pretty rapidly got out of hand.
There absolutely is no easy answer to this problem - just many, many difficult decisions. We will need the wisdom of Solomon - and courage, and resources, and patience.
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@Londoner Unfortunately, one of the solutions must be to significantly reduce populations in overpopulated areas or areas where the population overstrips the available physical resources in that area (i.e., no importing to resolve the issue; populations have to be sustainable where the people live). There are only a couple of options. 1, significantly reduce procreation through contraception and any other options that don't involve force or coercion, or 2. the populations in the overpopulated areas starve until the population becomes sustainable.
What is not and should not be allowed is mass migration. If people attempt to come to other countries to resolve these issues, they should be rejected and returned, regardless of personal safety concerns. The world cannot sustain several additional billion people.
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It is never "pointless" to help others in distress.
Was it OK that throughout history Europeans left home and sailed away in search of better lives? Is it OK that modern America is a land made by immigrants from across the seas?
It's easy to say that those fleeing violence and poverty should stay and fight for change; it's not so easy if you are poor, hungry and under threat of torture and slavery.
It's payback time for countries that benefitted from African colonisation; now they must enable people to live lives worth staying home for.
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@Frankie my parents were political refugees and I have worked with various migration agencies in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, your sentiment is not going to prevent the majority of these men and women from ending up in extremely precarious situations, potentially working for either the Sicilian or Nigerian mafia in Italy or being human trafficked to sell drugs in the streets as we see here in Berlin. It's time for a real discussion to be had about the fact that the aid from the west is going mainly to corrupt dictators whose corruption and tribalism is preventing the young people on the youngest continent (Africa) from having a future.. That's why it's impossible to say, let's let a few people in, this is a situation in which potentially 700 million people at least meet the same criteria as these people cited-how can they all fit on a continent of 250 million or so people? Further, the brain drain and loss of youth and social issues created by migration are deep and need to be addressed.
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@A
Thank you A. I agree with you but I wish I knew when and where this "real discussion" is going to take place, how the "brain drain and loss of youth and social issues" are going to be addressed. I talked to a group of young men, newly-arrived seaborne immigrants, in Palermo last year. They were desperate to find work and start a new life. They said they had nothing to go back for. Within or without the "youngest" continent (which is actually the oldest, if you agree that it is where we started from) who or what will be the impetus for change that we all hope for?
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@Frankie I agree that the lack of discussion nor accountability about actions taken in North Africa that affect the Sahel (i.e. Gadaffi overthrowal) along with international aid priorities, albeit well-meaning that have lowered child mortality but do not address family planning have, in addition to the tacit support for the corrupt strong men in many African countries, are things that need to be examined in order to reverse this trend. On the other hand, I have met several migrants in Berlin who are miserable and even many, who have elected to self-deport and return to their country of origin with UN/German government aid. I have also worked with trafficked Nigerian women in Italy who were trafficked into sex slavery from Benin City, who deeply regret having undertaken the journey to Europe but are ashamed to go back, given that at times their very own families trafficked them or are reliant on them or incapable to provide for them. This situation is creating a class of African and other migrants working under very dangerous and at times illegal and unsafe conditions in Europe. There has to be a change in our Western policies which support leaders who do not invest in the human capacity of their own countries. There also needs to be an end to tarrifs that make it cheaper to buy certain European products in Africa and other trade barriers or dynamics such as international fishing along African coastlines by multinationals which are impoverishing young Africans.
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They should have turned back to Libya. The non-profit isn’t a rescue ship, if so it would not be concerned about which European country to deliver the migrants to. It would have safely deposited them in Libya. The Italian minister is right to call out the scam and refuse entry, ditto for Malta.
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@Ed No, turning them back to Liby would be against the law. The Geneva Convention (which most European countries have ratified) doesn't allow bringing somebody back to a country where he is threatened by torture, ill-treatment or murder (all these things are most likely to happen to refugees in Libya). And, the law also says that if you cannot bring refugees back to a country where they are not able to ask for asylum. You have to bring them to a safe port. Libya is not a safe port.
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@Andrea The migrant smugglers can recite this law better than you.
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@Andrea What about assumption of the risk? as many commentators in this column mentioned, thousands of these "migrants" knew or were aware of the so called dangerous conditions in Libya and yet, they assumed the risk to be placed in danger when they consciously decided to travel there in the first place. Thus, why not return them there?
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Whether they are economic or political refugees, these human beings deserve safety. We cannot turn our back on their suffering. Under Trump, the U.S. is taking in the smallest number of refugees in decades. My heart breaks for these people, for those who drown at sea, and for those stuck in slavery in Libya, and in inhumane conditions elsewhere.
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@Sandra People don't deserve to be welcomed wherever they want to have safety from economic concerns.
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@Sandra
How much of our annual budget goes to feeding and housing and providing medical care and remedial education and law enforcement to the undocumented? How much tax revenue is lost because undocumented are paid off the books? It has been estimated that there are over 10 million already living in the US. Where is the money to keep these people going to come from? Your pocket?
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Grinding poverty and violence back home are not grounds for asylum, or else most of the globe could claim asylum in the US or the EU.
Being persecuted by your government because of a minority status is grounds, but the piece does not mention this at all.
Private ships like the Sea-Watch 3 do a disservice to everyone, they interfere with coast guard operations and 'incentivive' hazardous and in many cases deadly sailings by the migrants. These advocates give the migrants false hope into thinking that their only option is to illegally sail to Europe. Instead, the funders of such operations should try to help make live better in these migrant exporting countries.
Sailing to Europe is not the only option for the Sea-Watch 3 - it could also leave the Mediterranean and sail to the east Atlantic and return the migrants to Western Africa, or easily return the migrants to Libya, and pay for their flights back to their 9 respective home African countries. They are stranded at sea only by choice.
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