Sub-Saharan and other African migrants traveling to Europe face dire consequences when they leave the North African coast. Many who try to make it to the European Union (EU) are being picked up before they make land and dropped off in the desert. According to a new report, EU nations are funding these roundups of migrants.
The most common route for African migrants trying to make it to Europe is through Italy, with many arriving on the island of Lampedusa. However, the journey is perilous as boats often capsize. More recently, migrants are being picked up by the Tunisian coast guard and transported to the African desert at Tunisia’s borders with Libya and Algeria. There, the migrants are left to their own devices to survive.
Migrants who arrived in Tunisia said that food, water and work are particularly nonexistent.
“There is no work here,” one migrant who spoke to The Associated Press said. “It’s not easy to find anything to eat. Life is expensive here. Things are very difficult here and you can’t buy water or shampoo or wash properly. All we want is for them to let us go, we will leave.”
Migrants want the Tunisian government to allow them passage to Europe. However, The Washington Post and several other international outlets reported that the EU and individual European nations are financing Northern African countries’ efforts to stop the flow of migration.
The investigation shows that African nations are intercepting boats of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, bringing them back to Africa and then dropping them off hundreds of miles inland in the middle of the desert. The placement exposes them to kidnapping, extortion, torture, sexual violence and death, according to the yearlong joint investigation.
Activists seeking better rights and humanitarian aid for the migrants hold the EU directly responsible.
In June 2023, the European Commission brokered a deal with the Tunisian government, promising just over 1 billion euros for the African nation to help stabilize its economy and stem the flow of migrants leaving the Tunisian coast for Europe.
According to the AP, the Tunisian coast guard’s efforts are working, as they have prevented more than 21,000 migration attempts by land or sea this year.
