Unauthorized migration into the EU declined despite heated politics

Unauthorized migration into the EU declined despite heated politics
Above, a child is carried ashore from a crowded migrant boat at the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain on Aug. 18, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 13 September 2024
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Unauthorized migration into the EU declined despite heated politics

Unauthorized migration into the EU declined despite heated politics
  • There was, however, a spike in migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands
  • But Spanish archipelago is increasingly used as stepping stone to continental Europe

BARCELONA: Unauthorized migration to European Union countries dropped significantly overall in the first eight months of this year, even as political rhetoric and violence against migrants increased and far-right parties espousing anti-immigration policies made gains at the polls.
There was, however, a spike in migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that is increasingly used as an alternate stepping stone to continental Europe.
Irregular migration dominated the European parliamentary elections in June and influenced recent state elections in eastern Germany, where a far-right party won for the first time since World War II. The German government this week announced it was expanding border controls around its territory following recent extremist attacks.
What do the numbers show?
Despite the heated debates, irregular crossings over the southern borders of the EU — the region that sees the most unauthorized migration — were down by 35 percent from January to August, according to the latest preliminary figures compiled by the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration.
Nearly 115,000 migrants — less than 0.03 percent of the EU’s population — have arrived without permission into the EU via Mediterranean and Atlantic routes so far this year, compared to 176,252 during the same period last year, the UN says. In contrast, more than a million people, most of them fleeing conflict in Syria, entered the EU in 2015.
Data shared by the EU’s border and coast guard agency Frontex shows a similar trend: Unauthorized crossings over the region’s southern borders fell 39 percent overall this year compared to last year.
“The emergency is not numerical this year, nor was it last year,” Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesperson with the IOM office for the Mediterranean, told The Associated Press.
Camille Le Coz, an associate director of the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute in Europe, said irregular migration is “getting way too much attention compared to the scope of the issue and compared to other issues Europe should be tackling, such as climate change.”
The most commonly used route for migrants is from North Africa, across the dangerous Central Mediterranean to Italy. Yet roughly 64 percent fewer migrants disembarked in Italy this year than during the same period in 2023, according to IOM and Frontex numbers.
Experts say that’s a result of the EU-supported crackdown in Tunisia and Libya, which comes at a price for migrants, many of whom are systematically rounded up and dumped in the desert.
How long the downward trend will hold remains to be seen, however. Smugglers are always quick to adapt and find new routes around border controls. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the second-most-used route, smuggling networks are now using speedboats in increasingly aggressive ways to avoid controls and targeting islands farther away from the Turkish coast in the central Aegean, according to Greek authorities.
The number of migrants arriving in Greece by sea and overland during the first eight months of the year rose by 57 percent, UN data shows.
An alarming spike in the Atlantic
Meanwhile, irregular migration from West Africa to the Canary Islands via the Atlantic, the third-most-used route, has more than doubled: More than 25,500 migrants — mostly from Mali, Senegal and other West African countries — had arrived in the islands as of Aug. 31, the UN says.
Countless other migrants have gone missing along the route, where rough winds and strong Atlantic currents work against them. Several migrant boats, carrying only the remains of Malian, Mauritanian and Senegalese citizens, have been found this year drifting as far away as the Caribbean and off Brazil. Precize numbers are hard to verify, but the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders has reported more than 4,000 dead or missing.
The trend has Spanish authorities on alert for the fall, when conditions in the Atlantic are most favorable for the journey. The treacherousness of the route seems to have done little to dissuade would-be migrants, whose ranks have swelled to include people from Syria and Pakistan, according to rescuers.
“There are situations that need to be addressed, like the situation in the Canary Islands,” Le Coz acknowledged.
A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The adult migrants who successfully make it to the Canaries usually keep moving, headed for the promise of jobs and safety in mainland Spain or other European countries farther north. But that is not the case for thousands of unaccompanied minors. Under Spanish law, these young migrants must be taken under the wing of the local government, leading to overcrowded shelters and a political crisis. Earlier this year, island leaders fought unsuccessfully to have other regions of Spain share the responsibility.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently traveled to three West African countries in an attempt to curb migration. In Senegal, he and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed agreements to promote temporary work opportunities in Spain for Senegalese nationals and vocational training in Senegal. They also agreed to step up police cooperation.
No magic solutions
Current anti-immigrant sentiments notwithstanding, Europe’s aging population, declining birth rates and labor shortages have only increased the need for immigrant workers to sustain pensions and boost economic growth.
And as long as migrants lack opportunities in their own countries, their exodus will continue. Add to this the growing instability and conflict in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia that have displaced millions.
“There is no magic deterrence,” Le Coz said. “Migrants end up taking the toll of all of this: They are risking their lives, doing jobs in Europe where they face uncertain legal status for years and are vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation.”
While long-term solutions to tackle unauthorized migration are being implemented, such as temporary work programs for migrants, they are still falling short.
“That’s one step in the right direction, but this needs to happen at a much larger scale, and they need the private sector to be more involved,” Le Coz added.


US, South Korea, Japan unveil new team to monitor North Korea sanctions

US, South Korea, Japan unveil new team to monitor North Korea sanctions
Updated 6 sec ago
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US, South Korea, Japan unveil new team to monitor North Korea sanctions

US, South Korea, Japan unveil new team to monitor North Korea sanctions
  • The team is meant to continue the UN panel’s work, including issuing regular reports on sanctions enforcement
  • It will involve the participation of eight other countries including Britain, France and Germany
SEOUL: The United States, South Korea and Japan on Wednesday announced the launch of a new multinational team to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea after Russia and China thwarted monitoring activities at the United Nations.
The mechanism, named the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, has been introduced after Russia in March rejected the annual renewal of a UN panel of experts that had over the past 15 years overseen the implementation of sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. China abstained from the vote.
The team is meant to continue the UN panel’s work, including issuing regular reports on sanctions enforcement, and will involve the participation of eight other countries including Britain, France and Germany, a South Korean official said.
Its launch was unveiled at a joint press conference in Seoul by US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, alongside ambassadors of the eight countries, ahead of their talks in Seoul.
“There have been many discussions about how to build an effective monitoring system that can replace the UN panel, but even during that process, cases of North Korea violating sanctions continued to occur, so we thought that we should not delay any longer and should quickly fill the gap,” Kim told the news conference.
While the allies will continue to seek ways to reinstate the UN scheme, the team is open to all countries that are willing to help ensure the implementation of sanctions, Kim added.
Campbell said Russia’s veto was likely influenced by the UN panel’s previous reporting on its illegal procurement of military equipment and munitions from North Korea for its war in Ukraine.
“The potential for this to be a major effort in tracking and holding to account steps that North Korea is taking across a range of provocative actions is real,” Campbell said. “So this is a big step in the right direction.”
Washington and Seoul say North Korea and Russia have made illicit military transactions. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties, clinching a mutual defense treaty at a summit in June.
The new initiative might lack the international legitimacy granted to a UN-backed operation, but could monitor North Korea more effectively, free from efforts by Moscow and Beijing to downplay Pyongyang’s suspected sanctions evasion at the world body, said Ethan Hee-seok Shin, a legal analyst at the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group.
“Going forward, the like-minded governments should also consider utilising the sanctions to target the individuals and entities in North Korea and elsewhere that enable Pyongyang to commit grave human rights violations,” Shin said.

Spiralling Sudan bloodshed sparks refugee surge into Chad

Spiralling Sudan bloodshed sparks refugee surge into Chad
Updated 22 min 51 sec ago
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Spiralling Sudan bloodshed sparks refugee surge into Chad

Spiralling Sudan bloodshed sparks refugee surge into Chad

GENEVA: Nearly three million people have fled Sudan after 18 months of war in a still-growing exodus, the UN warned, with 25,000 fleeing to neighboring Chad in the first week of October alone.
Mamadou Dian Balde, the UN’s Sudan regional refugee coordinator, told AFP that the three-million mark will likely be crossed in the next two to three weeks.
That the figure is approaching three million is a “disaster” directly linked to the increasing brutality of the conflict, he said in an interview on Tuesday during his visit to Geneva this week.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.
The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and some 26 million people facing severe food insecurity, with famine declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
Some 11.3 million people have been forced to flee, including nearly 2.95 million who have fled across the country’s borders, according to the latest figures from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
In a sign of the worsening conflict in Darfur, some 25,000 people — 80 percent of whom were women and children — crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October, a record number for a single week in 2024.
And more than 20,270 crossed into Chad in the whole of September.
Chad is host to 681,944 Sudanese refugees — more than any other country.
However, it is also one of the poorest countries on Earth and is lacking the basic services to accommodate such numbers, said Balde, while highlighting the generosity shown by Chadians toward their fleeing neighbors.
“When we see 25,000 arriving, it’s enormous,” he said.
He called for greater support from international donors.
A UN appeal for $1.51 billion to support Sudanese refugees and their hosts in the region through the end of the year remains just 27-percent funded.
“It’s not enough, because the number of refugees continues to grow,” said Balde, who also serves as the UNHCR’s East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regional director.
Balde said he expected “very unfortunately, in the coming weeks, to have many more refugees in Chad,” due to both the conflict intensifying in Darfur and the drop in water levels as the rainy season ends.

ACCESS TO AID
With the drier conditions, the UN hopes to be able to deliver more aid to Sudan — if the parties to the conflict allow it.
Several rounds of negotiation efforts have so far failed to end the fighting.
In late August, following talks outside Geneva convened by the United States, the two factions committed to ensuring safe and unhindered access for humanitarians along two key corridors.
“This has helped us save lives,” but “not all the commitments made have been respected” — and the flow of aid remains “limited,” said Balde, deploring the persistent “barriers at the administrative level.”
In Geneva for the UNHCR’s annual executive committee meeting, he chaired a discussion on Sudan, during which he asked for support to help Sudanese refugees get into the jobs market and thereby reducing their reliance on humanitarian assistance.
“We are asking development actors to mobilize to complement” such aid, he explained, while stressing the need for peace in Sudan.
Balde warned it would be “a big mistake” to think the flow of displaced people will be limited to Sudan and the wider region.
“There are more and more who are coming toward Italy, Europe and southern Africa,” and “there are some who will go toward the Gulf countries too,” he said.


Italian navy brings first migrants to Albania centre

Italian navy brings first migrants to Albania centre
Updated 43 min 48 sec ago
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Italian navy brings first migrants to Albania centre

Italian navy brings first migrants to Albania centre
  • The Italian navy vessel arrived after a 36-hour voyage carrying 16 men from Bangladesh and Egypt
  • Migrants will be settled in prefabricated housing while their asylum requests are processed

Shëngjin, Albania: A navy boat carrying migrants intercepted in Italian waters docked at Shengjin port in Albania Wednesday, AFP journalists saw, the first arrivals under a new deal between Rome and Tirana.
The Italian navy vessel arrived after a 36-hour voyage carrying 16 men from Bangladesh and Egypt.
They will be settled in prefabricated housing while their asylum requests are processed.
Italy’s two processing centers in Albania, surrounded by high walls and security cameras, are at Camp Gjader, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the port.
They will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, and judges hearing cases by video from Rome.
If an applicant’s asylum request is refused, cells have been set up on site.
Human rights groups have questioned whether there will be enough protection for asylum seekers. They have expressed doubts, too, as to whether it complies with international law.
But Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni brushed aside criticism in comments on Tuesday.
“It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit and has everything it takes to be followed also with other non-EU nations,” she said.
The arrangement between the two countries is a European first, which other leaders in the region are watching closely.
The project was agreed in a November 2023 deal between Italy and Albania. Set to last five years, it will cost Italy an estimated 160 million euros a year.
The centers will have a capacity of 1,000 initially growing to 3,000 in the long term.
Its critics say that given such numbers, the scheme cannot be justified.
“Over the last three years, more than 1,600 migrants have landed in Italy,” migration researcher Matteo Villa of Datalab Europe posted on X. “An Italian navy vessels is taking 16 to Albania.
“I don’t think I need to add anything else.”


EU holds first summit with Gulf states

EU holds first summit with Gulf states
Updated 16 October 2024
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EU holds first summit with Gulf states

EU holds first summit with Gulf states
  • EU aims to make the relationship with six Gulf states more strategic
  • EU partnership with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE would cover trade and investment, renewable energy, regional security and citizen issues

BRUSSELS: The European Union holds its first summit with the Gulf states on Wednesday, part of an EU diplomatic push as it enlists international support to isolate Russia.
Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the 27-member EU has reached out to other regional blocs, holding its first summit with ASEAN countries and its first for eight years with the CELAC community of Caribbean and Latin American countries.
Its aim in meeting the six Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council is to make the relationship more strategic, recognizing those countries’ influence particularly in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“The Gulf region is at the crossroads between Asia, Europe and Africa. It plays a very important role in many of the crisis of today,” a senior EU official said.
An EU partnership with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would cover trade and investment, renewable energy, regional security and citizen issues such as visas.
Though Brussels wants the GCC partners to agree strong language on Russia’s military assault on Ukraine, it is not expecting them to fully adopt its position in blaming Moscow. The two blocs are arguably closer on the Middle East, where the EU is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and broader de-escalation.
Talks on an EU-GCC free trade agreement, which began 35 years ago, have been suspended since 2008, with disagreement over the openness of public tenders and on oil products. However, EU officials said there were other avenues for trade and investment cooperation.
One request from the Gulf side is visa liberalization. Currently, no EU visas are required for short stays for UAE citizens, while those of other Gulf nations need to secure a visa valid for five years.


Indonesia to check grocery shelves as deadline for halal labels nears

Indonesia to check grocery shelves as deadline for halal labels nears
Updated 16 October 2024
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Indonesia to check grocery shelves as deadline for halal labels nears

Indonesia to check grocery shelves as deadline for halal labels nears
  • World’s biggest Muslim-majority country adopted a measure in 2014 requiring the labeling for restaurants and food products
  • An October 17 deadline was set to ensure items are suitable for consumption under Islamic law

JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities plan to inspect grocery store shelves to check compliance with a law requiring halal labels on food items from Friday, officials said, although some importers and restaurants face hurdles in complying.
The world’s biggest Muslim-majority country adopted a measure in 2014 requiring the labeling for restaurants and food products, setting an Oct. 17 deadline to ensure items are suitable for consumption under Islamic law.
While most businesses in the nation of 280 million have complied, along with some major global food producers, others say they need more time.
“They (some members) want to be part of Indonesia’s strong market for halal products, but are still encountering complex supply chains and lack of clear guidelines,” said Lydia Ruddy, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce.
“These potentially can lead to trade disruptions and higher costs,” she told Reuters, adding that AmCham was in talks with the government on the matter.
She called for more foreign certifiers to speed inspection of products and raw materials abroad so as to help the affected AmCham members.
The law requires products or restaurants without the certification to declare they do not comply with Islamic law, a step that could hit sales.
Islamic law prohibits consumption of pork or intoxicants such as alcohol, while meat can only be eaten if the animals were slaughtered by prescribed methods.
The halal certifying body BPJPH has asked the government for a two-year waiver on some raw materials used in the food and beverages industry, as well as products of small businesses, but the president has yet to sign off, its head, Aqil Irham, said.
With Indonesia’s President-designate Prabowo Subianto set to take over from the incumbent Joko Widodo next weekend, it was not clear if such a dispensation could be issued in time.
The presidential office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The trade ministry deferred questions on the waiver to the BPJPH.
Authorities plan inspections on Friday to check compliance and issue a formal warning to producers of items that lack clear labels, said domestic trade official Moga Simatupang.
“We will take administrative action against non-compliance, so we urge importers to immediately register to get halal labels,” he added.
In the absence of compliance, such products will be removed from stores, he added, without setting a timeframe.
Most of the 400 members of the Indonesian Food and Beverage Industries Association have complied, but restaurants and hotels face difficulties because authorities need time to check menu offerings, said Adhi Lukman, the group’s chairman.
Conservative interpretations of Islam have gained ground in Indonesia in the past few years, ushering in major changes to the economy, across industries from entertainment to banking.