Opening up legal channels for migration is the way forward to help address irregular immigration and mitigate the risks and perils migrants face when crossing borders, according to an expert.

Melissa Phillips, Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat project manager, said temporary visa schemes, such as those in Australia allowing migrants to work there for three years before returning home, benefited both the migrant and the host country.

Australia also ran the Pacific seasonal work scheme, where migrants are granted a visa for six months to work in agriculture, filling gaps in the labour force.

“These are employer-driven schemes so businesses have to be on board,” she said.

Asylum seekers interviewed spoke of beatings and electric shocks

“The migration debate needs to be more focused on setting up policies and mechanisms for labour migrants to travel and work in a country for short-term stays and positively contributing to filling gaps in the labour force.

“Migrants travel to Europe with the intention of working hard – they wouldn’t even be aware of the social benefits system because the concept doesn’t exist in their country.”

Dr Phillips was speaking at the launch of a report on mixed migration trends from the Horn of Africa to Libya and Europe.

Also present was Marie Groth Kruse from the Danish Refugee Council, who worked tirelessly among migrants in Libya until she was evacuated a week ago.

The intention of a lot of migrants was not to cross to Europe, she explained, but to find work – especially in the case of many west Africans.

Unfortunately, the authoritarian regimes of some countries did not allow them to migrate legally.

According to the report, most Eritreans leave illegally, without obtaining an exit permit or visa as freedom of movement in and out of Eritrea is extremely restricted.

Eritrean authorities also reportedly adopt a shoot-on-sight policy towards people found in locations that are off-limits, such as areas close to the national borders.

They may face life imprisonment or even the death penalty as a result.

The Libyan revolution and armed conflict in 2011 caused a mass exodus of foreign nationals. In the spring of that year, an estimated 1.1 million people (including Libyans) fled Libya to Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, Chad and Sudan, but also to Italy and Malta.

This group included de facto refugees who were living and working in Libya but not registered as refugees because Libya (which is not a party to the 1951 Geneva Convention) does not recognise the status of refugees.

Post-Gaddafi, Libya is once again a magnet for migrants, particularly from North and sub-Sahara Africa and the Middle East, looking for jobs and protection.

Yet the conditions in which they are held at detention centres, especially those run by militia camps, amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Asylum seekers interviewed by the Jesuit Refugee Service Malta spoke of beatings with metal rods, pipes, electric cables and chains.

They said some detainees had their heads banged against the floor and that others were subjected to falanga, a type of torture that consists of beating the soles of the victim’s feet.

Cattle prods were used to give electric shocks. Sometime the victims were soaked with cold water before being beaten.

UNHCR wants action on sea deaths

The UNHCR has called for urgent European action to stop the rising number of refugee and migrant deaths at sea.

More than 260 people have perished crossing the Mediterranean in 10 days, the agency said. Survivors reported mass drownings, suffocations and a suspected multiple stabbing.

About 800 died at sea so far this year, compared to 600 in 2013 and 500 in 2012.

The agency praised Malta and Italy for their rescue efforts but called on governments to strengthen rescue operations, provide swift access to asylum and legal alternatives to sea crossings.