Weary migrants from north Africa make landfall in Tunisia.
Since the beginning of this year,
over two thousand people have lost their lives
Read more at http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mediterranean-libya-migrants#8UtsepOSU3oZrgFu.99
while making the arduous trip from Africa to Europe. It is estimated that
up to 170,000 people tried to make this journey in 2014 alone. Many travelers depart from Libya, as it boasts one of Africa’s largest exit ports for West African and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) immigrants seeking a better life elsewhere.
Read more at http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mediterranean-libya-migrants#8UtsepOSU3oZrgFu.99alone. Many travelers depart from Libya, as it boasts one of Africa’s largest exit ports for West African and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) immigrants seeking a better life elsewhere.
The remnants of a skirmish during the Libyan conflict, which sparked during the Arab Spring protests of 2011 and is still ongoing. This is what drives Libyans out of their homes for a better life in Europe.
Why are these people risking their lives at sea? Conditions at home–particularly in Libya–are absolutely terrible. Seated just across from Italy and separated by the Mediterranean Sea, Libya (like many African and Middle Eastern countries) has been torn apart
civil war, dictators
that murder their own people, , and a bleak landscape that
is 90 percent desert.
An abandoned shoe floating in the Mediterranean Sea.
An injured woman receives medical care on an Italian Coast Guard ship.
Migrants looking out from the coast guard ship that facilitated their rescue.
The boats used to ferry migrants across the Mediterranean, like this one, are often pitifully unsuited for the journey.
The Italian Navy assisting in a rescue of migrants.
A 2014 map of migrant deaths.
Hundreds of humans piled like lifeless cargo on a rescue boat.
An Italian navy rescue ship oversees a boat of migrants.
Migrants rescued off of the Turkish coast.
At least three factions are making territorial claims within war-torn Libya.
Detained migrants in Libya await processing.
Greek coast guard discovers an abandoned boat full of migrants.
Men await medical evaluations on an Italian navy rescue ship.
A video capture from a memorial service for the recently perished 800 migrants.
Rescued migrants playing in a gym in Catania, Sicily.
Men smiling after being rescued in Tarifa, Spain.
The grim reality: a drowned man is pulled from the water off the coast of Libya.
Migrant girl saved from the Mediterranean by the Italian Coast Guard.
An injured migrant is loaded onto an Italian coast guard ship.
Yet another injured migrant nurses his wounds on an Italian coast guard ship.
Libyans mourn those killed during an airstike in May, 2012.
A migrant, near-drowning, is rescued from the water of the Mediterranean.
Body number 124: another unidentified migrant is laid to rest.
Given such high demands and limited economic opportunity in the formal sector, smuggling people across these waterways has become quite a lucrative business. Some smugglers’ rings have been known to rack i
n over $60,000 USD per week.. The migration works like a sort
of Underground Railroad— — those able to afford the “ticket” (ranging anywhere from $1000-$5000 USD) are shuffled in secret from town to town as they approach the Libyan coastline.
Some migrants make
50 to 60 attempts before successfully reaching the coast. For the smugglers, it’s simply another way to make a living, and has proven to be so profitable that some historically warring tribes now cooperate with one another in the smuggling trade. Meanwhile, migrants with nowhere else to turn will continue to attempt the 1,500-mile trip across the Mediterranean and likely die, perishing in rubber rafts and fishing boats not suited for the vast and violent sea. European countries are offering some naval support and refuge to migrants seeking asylum, but
this simply isn’t enough to stem the tide of migration.
Read more at http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mediterranean-libya-migrants#8UtsepOSU3oZrgFu.99
Members of the European Commission will meet next month to discuss “relocation schemes” for the refugees that sought passage across the Mediterranean.
What does this mean for the future? The European Union is discussing a relocation scheme for the displaced MENA refugees, and an “immigration schedule” is on the discussion table for next month’s meeting of the European Commission. In other words, many more people will likely die before European leaders even begin to think about what to do for them, and the International Organization for Migration estimates that this year, 30,000 will lose their lives attempting the Mediterranean passage. The speed of bureaucracy is slow, and the cost of this migration can be measured, monthly, in human lives.
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