Malta has been warned to expect high numbers of irregular migrants to continue to flow out of Libya as the attention of the new government there remains focused on other priorities.
If the situation persists, we expect this route to once again become the main channel of irregular migration to the EU
According to an analysis carried out by the EU’s border control agency Frontex, the Libyan conflict has had a negative effect on Malta in terms of irregular migration.
A source close to the agency said that as a result of the conflict, the central Mediterranean route was still completely open to irregular migrants wanting to reach the EU via Libya, Malta and Italy.
“Irregular migration is not really high on the agenda of the new Libyan government at the moment and there is no surveillance along the Libyan coasts,” the source said.
This, coupled with the fact that the joint Italian-Libyan patrols had been suspended, was the right combination for traffickers operating in an almost free-for-all environment.
“If the situation persists, we expect this route to once again become the main channel of irregular migration to the EU.”
The latest data published by Frontex show a big increase in the number of irregular migrants using the central Mediterranean route, which includes Malta and Italy, and a changing profile of irregular immigrants.
Following an almost negligible number using this route last year, particularly thanks to the joint Italo-Libyan patrols and heightened surveillance by the Frontex itself, a 53 per cent increase was registered in the first half of this year.
The largest number made their way to Italy, particularly Lampedusa. However, Malta also received its “fair share” of irregular migrants from Libya: 820 in the first quarter of this year and another 710 between April and June.
Describing these new figures as a “sustained peak” and “extremely high” when compared to the small numbers reported throughout 2010, Frontex said Malta had received fewer Somalis and Eritreans but more Nigerians and other migrants from the Ivory Coast.
Migrants from Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt often claimed to originate from sub-Saharan Africa in an attempt to appear as refugees, “a fact which may render such comparisons of nationalities somewhat misleading”.
“According to intelligence, most of detected irregular migrants (in Malta and Italy) had already been in Libya for over a year, originally heading to Tripoli via the traditional routes for sub-Saharan and central African migrants,” Frontex said.
Most of the deported African nationals did not want to leave the country because their standard of living in Libya was high compared to their home countries.
Reports suggest that some migrants were instructed to reach embarkation areas on their own but had been caught by the military or the police and then detained in camps or disused barracks until they were transported to embarkation areas and onto vessels bound for Italy. In each case, the migrants were searched by the military before boarding and all their belongings were confiscated, according to Frontex intelligence.
Still, the main irregular immigration route into the EU was again the Greek-Turkish border followed by the Italian route, via the island of Lampedusa. The route through Malta was the third most popular for irregular migration so far this year, according to Frontex.