Noted recently in the Newsletter of the Real Instituto Elcano:
CARIM MEDITERRANEAN MIGRATION 2008-2009 REPORT, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, October 2009, Edited by Philippe Fargues
MIGRATIONS MÉDITERRANÉENNES, RAPPORT 2008-2009, Octobre 2009, Sous la direction de Philippe Fargues
An excerpt:
“The period covered in this latest report, the years 2007 and 2008, is characterised by the accentuation of the migratory trends described in previous reports1: emigration from South and East Mediterranean countries (SEM) is continuing at a steady rate, while immigration to these countries is increasing, particularly in various irregular forms. [***]
Transit Migrants
Transit migrants in the SEM countries are people who cannot reach the destination of their choice (Europe) for lack of the required visa. They are waiting to find a way to reach this destination and over time their transit becomes stay. All the SEM countries, from Mauritania in the west to Turkey in the East, have, over the course of the last two decades, been transformed into transit countries for those travelling to Europe.
How many transit migrants are there in the SEM countries? The statistics in this area are even more inadequate than those for de facto refugees or irregular migrant workers. Aggregating figures provided by the police and various NGOs allows for a maximum estimation of 200,000 transit migrants in the region (Table 7).
Table 7: Transit migrants present in SEM countries around 2005
Country Estimated number
Algeria > 10,000
Turkey > 50,000
Libya > 10,000
Mauritania ± 30,000
Morocco > 10,000
Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Palestine,
Syria, Tunisia Not available
Total SEM < 200,000
Sources: CARIM, Irregular Migration Series http://www.carim.org/index.php?areaid=8&contentid=235&callTopic=7
According to data collected by an Italian NGO on deaths and disappearances at sea (Table 8), it would seem that the number of clandestine sea crossings from SEM countries to Europe is not increasing (in fact it may even have decreased in 2008) but the routes are changing. The most ancient route across the Straits of Gibraltar is being used less and less and has been successively replaced by that from Mauritania, or even Senegal, to the Canary Islands (on which traffic peaked in 2006), from Turkey to the Greek Islands of the Dodecanese (on which traffic peaked in 2007) and lastly from Libya to Italy on which traffic peaked in 2008).
How many transit migrants are there who attempt (sometimes successfully) the crossing to Europe? And for how many does transit in the SEM countries become a more long period of stay? The rare surveys carried out in the Maghreb or in Turkey do not allow us to assess this. With the extension of their stay in countries initially seen as a place of transit, transit migrants soon become mixed up with the more significant mass of migrant workers in irregular situation. On the other hand, it is not always possible to distinguish them from refugees. The two groups exist side by side in what the HCR calls flows of “mixed migration” where transit migrants and refugees, sometimes from the same countries of provenance, resort to the same smugglers and find themselves in the same circumstances.
Table 8: Dead and missing persons on sea routes of irregular migration from SEM to Europe 2000 – 2008
Year\ Route Sicily + Gibraltar +
Sardinia Ceuta & Melilla
2000 0 127
2001 8 157
2002 236 106
2003 413 108
2004 206 64
2005 437 146
2006 302 215
2007 621 142
2008 702 216
Total 2,925 1,281
Year\ Route Canary Aegean Sea
Islands
2000 16 32
2001 40 102
2002 39 94
2003 130 81
2004 232 103
2005 185 98
2006 1,035 73
2007 745 257
2008 136 181
Total 2,558 1,021
Year Total All Routes
2000 175
2001 307
2002 475
2003 732
2004 605
2005 866
2006 1,625
2007 1,765
2008 1,235
Total 7,785
Source : http://fortresseurope.blogspot.com/
[***]”
Click here for link to full Report in both English and francais.
MIGRANTS AT SEA 