The number of immigrants who lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean is staggeringly high. According to the statistics issued by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the total number of immigrants who attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2015 has thus far reached 300,000 persons. The number of those who are counted as dead or missing out of this total is over 2,500, compared to 3,500 persons who were dead or missing in 2014.
These are chilling numbers, bringing the total of those who perished in the sea to 6,000 persons in the span of less than two years. The numbers are increasing as we hear, almost daily, of tens of immigrants drowning off the shores of Libya, Malta, Italy, Greece and Turkey. The whole world was shocked recently by the sight of the angelic Syrian child lying prostrate and lifeless on a Turkish shore. Yet, Poseidon’s wrath at our human folly is not placated.
The merchants of death operating from western Libyan shores, and elsewhere, exploiting the political and security void in post-Gaddafi Libya, send hundreds of poor immigrants in dilapidated boats, with primitive navigational tools, or hardly any, to an unknown destiny. They wrench these wretched souls out from their life savings, with the callousness of monsters.
Huddled and packed like sardines in boats of death, the poor souls are committed to the Deep. The survivors make it to European shores, uninvited guests in foreign lands. The plight of these poor immigrants, though not new, has recently acquired new dimensions, both in size and complexity.
In addition to the socio-economic factors and abject poverty driving many people from sub-Saharan Africa to abandon their homelands in search for better opportunities in the more affluent countries, the tsunami of the Arab Spring which hit Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, all with Mediterranean shores, has unleashed an unprecedented exodus of immigrants.
The scene of thousands of Syrians, and other nationalities, making their journey on foot across Hungary and Austria to the more hospitable Germany, has shaken the conscience of humanity, bringing back sad memories to Europe of the thousands who fled the tyranny of the Nazis in Germany more than 70 years ago. Ironically, it is now Germany that has become the destination of these distraught pilgrims seeking their own Mecca. In a most magnanimous act, German authorities declared they would host up to half a million of those miserable fellow humans.
Yet no matter how willing and capable are countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Germany, Italy, the UK, France, Scandinavia, and even smaller countries such as Malta, Cyprus and Lebanon, to offer temporary or permanent refuge to these successive floods of immigrants, this human tragedy will remain with us for decades to come, unless we start to think of more radical solutions that address the root causes of the issues behind immigration.
We are one humanity. We either succeed or fail together
The adoption of such radical approaches, as outlined below, requires a real commitment on the part of the international community to put an end to a human tragedy that would, if we continue to treat it symptomatically, undermine the very fabric of human societies in countries of origin and countries of destination alike.
When people flee their countries in thousands, there has to be something drastically wrong. This sign of ultimate despair results either from dire economic conditions and abject poverty, or fear of losing one’s very existence and life. In many cases, we find a combination of both factors as when there is a prolonged conflict, such as the one we are witnessing in Syria; the most vulnerable victims are the poor and the weak.
Immigration from sub-Saharan Africa is a good example for how extreme poverty, leading almost to hunger, can drive people away from their countries. Sub-Saharan African countries have the lowest per capita income in the world. This is, of course, exa-cerbated by bad governance, corruption and regional conflicts. The rise of terrorist groups in the region, such as Boko Haram and Al-Shabab, attracting young desperate people, is another complicating factor. While these facts are well known by the international community, very little has been done to tackle them. What is really needed is a real commitment by the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the US, and other major economic powers, taken under the auspices of the United Nations, to embark upon a marshal project to salvage sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), military expenditures in the world exceeded the staggering figure of $1.7 trillion in 2014 (a trillion written in numbers is 1,000,000,000,000!). If only a small fraction of this amount, say in the range of $2 billion to $3 billion, were spent annually, for a limited, mutually agreed upon period by the major donor countries, under strict UN supervision, on the infrastructure of sub-Saharan countries, we will see a marked difference in the lives of the peoples of this unfortunate region.
Schools, hospitals, roads, and many other facilities can be built, opening up work opportunities for people. By spending these few billions, we will help people to settle in their own countries, significantly reducing the number of immigrants. In other words, such expenditure is not really charity, but money well spent to save Europe, and North African countries, from the ever-increasing flood of immigrants.
As for conflicts as a cause of immigration, there is no real cure but to end the conflicts. This is, of course, easier said than done. However, there is again a responsibility for the international community, particularly the super powers, namely the permanent five members of the Security Council.
In Syria, for example, the reluctance of the US to take any form of action against the Syrian regime, bombarding its own people with explosive barrels, and the collusion of Russia with the Syrian brutal dictator Assad, giving him protection and support, have led to the protraction of the Syrian conflict. The picture, of course, is further complicated by the fragmentation of the Syrian opposition and the presence of terrorist groups, such as the notorious ISIS, in many parts of Syria and Iraq. The Syrian people roaming Europe are fleeing from all these brutalities.
There is only one solution: immediate action by the Security Council. The US and Russia should work together. Russia has to tell Assad that the game is over and arrange for him to leave the country immediately. Before he does, international peace keeping forces should be deployed in Damascus, led jointly by the US and Russia, to protect the country, while a Syrian coalition is enabled to take control of the country. Thus there will be no power vacuum, such as the one Libya is currently witnessing.
As for Libya, it is important to add that the current round of talks in Skherat has toproduce a government of national accord, in order to save this country from fragmentation, leading to the escalation in illegal immigration and providing more fertile ground for terrorism. Once again, as in the case of Syria, the international community has to shoulder its responsibilities. Nato countries, in particular, have a moral, if not legal, responsibility towards Libya as they were pivotal in toppling the previous regime.
In conclusion, the thrust of my argument is that the current human tragedy of immigration cannot be simply wished away. There has to be immediate action by the international community, led by the United Nations, to tackle the real causes of this predicament, namely poverty and conflict. The superpowers should stop politicising this issue and work together towards real, not just symptomatic or cosmetic, solutions.
The UN will soon convene its 70th session. It was an organisation born from the ashes of World War II, but the world is once again facing grave dangers.
The tragic human saga of immigration should be at the forefront of action-oriented discussions in this august institution which remains a beacon of hope for our shattered humanity. We are one humanity. We either succeed or fail together. As we are all immigrants in this world, we pray to God to give us the strength to save ourselves.
Saadun Suayeh is a former Libyan ambassador to Malta.