The crux of the migration issue stems from the fact that Africa is a resource-rich but most impoverished continent. The solution lies beyond the cacophony of assurances and self-motivated reactions when the shoe pinches. Africa merits a more focused, calibrated, proactive, and win-win approach.
Every year, several thousands of African migrants make risky voyages to Europe fleeing conflicts and poverty in their homeland. Thousands of them perish in the Mediterranean Sea. It is well known that the root cause of this dangerous migration flow is the lack of development and employment opportunities in Africa. Despite drawing out the creamy layer of Africa’s resources, none of the beneficiaries bothered to uplift the African economies through appropriate development strategies. The result is that African youth are in a perpetual quest for safer shores and livelihoods.
For years, like many European countries, Italy has been struggling with an influx of migrants from Africa. The country has come out with a two-pronged approach, long-term and short-term, to stem the migrant exodus into their country. The African development proposal unveiled by the Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the recent Italy-Africa Summit is expected to bring a long-term impact on migrant flow. The proposed USD 6bn development plan for Africa, is envisaged to boost the economies and create jobs and economic opportunities within the continent deterring African youth from undertaking dangerous trips across the Mediterranean Sea.
The announcement is very well in line with Meloni’s electoral promises. She came to power in 2022, riding on the wave of the anti-immigration campaign. In her first year after coming to power, Italy witnessed a further surge in the number of illegal African migrants. The estimated number touched 160,000 mostly from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt, and Burkina Faso.
As an immediate strategy, to deal with the issue, Italy has recently signed a deal with Albania to host thousands of rescued Asylum seekers. The deal allows Italy to transfer rescued migrants from the Mediterranean to centers in Albania until their asylum claims are settled. According to the agreement, Albania will host up to 36,000 people a year in Italian-run asylum-processing centres. The two processing centres are expected to become operational by this spring.
The move has evoked a mixed response. Human Rights groups are crying foul, but some of the EU countries are watching it with interest. Illegal migration is a burning issue for EU countries. An effective mechanism for imposing strict curbs on sea arrivals from North Africa is a deciding factor in the upcoming European Parliament elections on June 6-9, 2024. Hence, EU members and institutions are in a hurry to push long-awaited asylum and migration reforms before the polls. Italy’s deal with Albania is hailed as a model of cooperation between EU and non-EU countries in managing migration flows.
However, a similar deal by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, has run into trouble. As soon as he took over his office, Sunak announced that curbing illegal migration across the English Channel was one of the top five priorities of his government. Accordingly, his government pushed ahead with the UK’s Asylum agreement with Rwanda. Under the deal, Illegal migrants to the UK would be relocated to Rwanda while their applications for asylum, and resettlement are processed.
The deal had sparked international outcry about the UK’s migration policy with mass protests across the country. Last week, The House of Lords passed five amendments to his new Rwanda bill, raising concerns about Rwanda being a ‘safe’ country for asylum seekers. Consequently, the bill is in limbo.
Between the UK-Rwanda and the Italy-Albania protocol on migration management, experts rate the Italy-Albania protocol as a better and novel model. It is viewed as an alternative solution, managed, controlled, and funded by Italy. All phases are under Italian jurisdiction, unlike other cases when the management is delegated to third countries.
Despite these efforts to evolve new mechanisms to mitigate the suffering of African migrants to Europe, the fact is, these are only interim measures. A permanent solution for this migration lies in building the economic foundation of Africa. The resource-rich continent needs strong support to develop that. Let us hope that more countries will realize that and redesign their African policies to match the priorities of the continent. Such a process will not only redefine the dynamics of cooperation but also serve mutual interest.
