Opening up legal channels for migration is a way forward to help address the migrant situation and mitigate risks migrants find themselves in when crossing borders, according to an expert.
Melissa Phillips, Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat project manager explained that most of the migrants in Libya were economic migrants who were seeking work to send money home.
“It is clear that deterrent mechanisms do not work. One must be creative and seek effective mechanisms which protect migrants.”
Dr Phillips was speaking at the launch of a report titled ‘Going west:
contemporary mixed migration trends from the Horn of Africa to Libya and Europe.’ The report was prepared by the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat.
Also present was Marie Groth Kruse from the Danish Refugee Council, who worked tirelessly in Libya until she was evacuated one week ago.
The intention of a lot of migrants was not to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, she explained, but to find work – especially in the case of many West Africans.
Libya used to effectively be a country which offered them employment opportunities – but the destabilising situation pushed them to flee and they often did not have the option of travelling through regular, legal channels, she said.
Jesuit Refugee Services director Katrine Camilleri explained that it was tragic that the migration debate in Malta focused almost exclusively on border control and saving lives.
While both were of vital importance, she added, they only formed part of the picture.
“The underlying cause is that people are looking for protection and not finding it. Even if the migrants are officially recognised as refugees, our laws, policies and structures do not guarantee a life of dignity.”
She said that the migrants not only felt unprotected in their country of origin but they also kept moving in circles, from one country to the other, since they did not find adequate protection anywhere.
People would keep taking to the sea because they had no choice, she continued, and also because it was the only option available for them to reach a place of safety.
“People will continue to risk their lives and even lose them unless we can guarantee a place of safety.”