North African Processing Centers for Safer Migration to the European Union.
Introduction
Over the past 30 years, migration has been at the forefront of the discussions in Brussels. From crisis to crisis, the European Union has struggled to form a consensus on how to slow down the issue or even prevent a crisis altogether. Regardless, the most prominent question has always been how to stop the crisis from hitting European shores, and if it does, how to prevent it from causing devastating problems within European nations on the Mediterranean. With this in mind, the European Union has proposed countless bills and projects to bring North African countries closer to the European Union and promote the effective diplomatic environment required to tackle the migration crisis. The creation of Frontex, EUROPOL, the Friendship Treaty, the European Neighborhood Project, and the European Mediterranean Association Agreements are just some of the most comprehensive-ranging projects to be implemented. Despite this, the European Union has still been entirely unsuccessful in stopping the spread of illegal smuggling operations (especially out of Libya) and has also not been able to prevent the political issues in North Africa from affecting the migration crossings. This provides a unique opportunity for a consistently important policy idea, the Processing Center. The idea is to externalize and secure the migration issue into Africa to prevent danger and potentially create an environment that could better legally manage people wanting to cross into Europe. These centers also seem to promise to slow down the illegal spread of migration smuggling campaigns by disincentivizing their trade. With all these promises, a new look must be taken to fully understand the crisis and how the processing centers can be appropriately implemented. This policy paper seeks to examine these centers and find a way for them to be correctly implemented and potentially turn the tide of the immigration crisis.
How North Africa Migration Became a Europe-Wide Crisis?
Over 30 years ago, Africa was amid the worst decades in its modern history. Genocide in Rwanda, the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the War in Burundi, and countless more conflicts were scarring the continent. These issues led to a massive flood of refugees moving across the African continent, entering many nations that were also in conflict or had declining governmental systems. "…as a result of civil conflict period…home now to half of the world's refugees." (Baker, pg.105). At this point in history, Africa was in a dire situation; the migration problem began to spread to North Africa and, subsequently, Southern Europe. The Mediterranean, within a decade of the European Union being founded, had become a hot spot for mass migration, both illegal and legal. Both of which the European Union was ill-equipped to handle.
This crisis began due to war and conflict but would end up causing more within West Africa and North Central Africa. These increases in political collapse, particularly in Libya, would lead to massive number of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Malta, France, Spain, and Italy. As war and conflict got worse, so did environmental issues. Despite a significant effort by the IOM (UN Migration Agency) and the European Union, migrants were forced to find new homes worldwide. In the North, Morocco quickly began to reject refugees; this sentiment later would be followed by Algeria, two nations who felt they had to take the burden alone, meaning Tunisia and Libya were left as the primary exit points to Europe. With these crises growing, migration routes illegally began to pop up around North/West Africa. "There are at least five routes along which smugglers have historically moved migrants from West Africa to enter Europe without a visa: by sea to the Canary Islands, by land to Spanish North African enclaves, by land and sea across the straits of Gibraltar, by land and sea across the Mediterranean to Lampedusa or Malta, and by land and sea across the Mediterranean to Greece." (UNODC, 2022). With so many illegal smuggling routes, already in combination with legal migration, the setup for a migration crisis overflow was imminent. With the onset of the Arab Spring, this crisis hit the European Union hard. The UNHCR states that this was a significant shift in the types of migration, from standard migration to smuggling and refugee crisis, and when combining Maghrebians and Sub-Saharan Africans at once, the European Union stood no chance of stopping it. (UNHCR,2007)
Well into the 21st century, the European Union was not only struggling to handle the migrants coming from Africa but also figuring out regions for these migrants to be processed. As so many illegal migrations were arriving in Lampedusa or Malta, the situation within Europe had become both a personal and a severe security threat. It was not until the Syrian refugee crisis that significant international attention was put on the migration crisis into Europe. Following this, many have looked into how the European Union would be able to function better. However, almost nothing emerged; today, the European Union still struggles significantly with this border crisis. As issues with Ukraine's War continue, the issues facing migrants crossing from North Africa and the Middle East continue to be pushed back as more pertinent geopolitical issues have received more attention from the media. A report by the European Commission and Frontex states that over the past year, all migration routes to Europe have increased overall. "…January and July 2022, there was an increase in crossings on the Central Mediterranean (+42%, 41,500), the Eastern Mediterranean (+122%, 21,500), and the Western Mediterranean routes (+1%, 16,400) compared to the same period in 2021…Between January and July 2022, around 153,900 illegal border crossings occurred, a nearly 85% increase from the previous year…" (European Commission, 2022). This surge in migrant crossings points to a concerning future, where the European Union can still not handle much of its border issues. This is even though Frontex and many of its organizations continue to work double time to stop the issue. Where this is a concern, the European Union is desperate to fix these issues. As many claims from both the New Yorker and Human Rights Watch has stated that the European Union has been embroiled or involved with human rights issues occurring in many of the current processing center and smuggling camps throughout Africa, the European Union also needs to restore its public perception on this topic. (Urbina, Human Rights Watch, 2021/2023). This, of course, is where much of the big question lies, as the European Union continues to struggle with both its public perception, its capability to prevent security issues posed by illegal immigration into Southern Europe, and most importantly, the humanitarian issues caused by this crisis, many have questioned whether or not the European Union will be effectively capable of preventing this issue or if outside help should be sought.
Processing Centers for a Safer Future
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the migration crisis from North Africa, in particular, has once again become a topic of significant discussion in Brussels. Many new policy changes have been proposed, and new ways to fund significant African projects to build better diplomatic ties to potentially foster further political negotiations on migration. While these initiatives seem promising, a significant discussion on processing centers seems more promising. Processing centers operated by European partners in North Africa have become one of the most controversial projects of the externalization and securitization processes. "…securitization and externalization of African migration, has not only failed to dissuade migrants from taking the strenuous journey, but it has also resulted in unintended consequences, with migrants being abused and held in inhumane detention centers in Libya; centers which are ironically funded by the European Union." (Mlambo, 2020). These controversies have damaged the European Union's image in North Africa, and therefore changing these centers into more modernized and humane centers of hope rather than fear could be an effective way to moderate migration into the country. These processing centers could provide a practical new avenue to mitigate the effects of illegal and legal migration into Southern Europe. This concept is also not new since, in the early 2000s, the British discussed modern approaches to processing centers, and even currently, in the Richard Toll, a processing center has been built in partnership with the Red Cross/Red Crescent. (Gerner, Pg.70, Vives, 2016) The Richard Toll processing center provides a unique example of humanitarian organizations and the European Union working simultaneously to provide proper care and mitigate immigration issues. Regardless, these examples of interest demonstrate that a call for better processing centers is an option and potentially the best solution to the migration crisis. Therefore, with the rising crisis, processing center policy change is required to protect the European borders and migrants for the near future.
Policy Recommendations
1. Further Partnerships to Support Processing Centers- One of the most prominent issues of the migration problem is a lack of appropriate dialogue between the European Union and the African Nations involved. In order to mitigate this issue, the European Union and other groups like the African Union should begin to broker further negotiations on the subjects of security, migration, and policy partnerships that will be used to further develop processing centers across North Africa and, more importantly, renovate and improve upon the ones that currently exist across the region. One of the most significant issues with processing centers within North Africa is the many criticisms of their incapability to handle the migration crisis and prevent many of these illegal smuggling campaigns from reaching Italy or Spain's shores. By increasing the partnerships between both continents, there is a way to more efficiently approach the problem instead of trying to tackle it on one side or the other. Also, since many countries in North Africa face instability and other economic issues, further diplomatic negotiations between Europe and African organizations might help move around this governmental issue. Some of these new negotiations do not need to create new partnerships but simply improve upon already established funds and deals between African countries and the European Union. These include the Trust Fund for Africa, Friendship Treaty, Labor Migration Project for West Africa, European Mediterranean Association Agreements, MEDA, EU Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel, European Development Fund, ENP, Migration Pact, and EU-IOM. These numerous treaties and partnerships will help establish a potential path for developing processing centers that include both the European Union and African countries working together to create systems that work for both parties and generally help to mitigate the migration problem for both parties involved. While this is a highly complex and potentially difficult way of achieving policy change in terms of processing centers, it is one of the more established diplomatic methods that could be used in order to assist in the further development of the processing centers and potentially get the ball rolling much sooner than other paths. By simply expanding and intensifying these partnerships and treaties, there is a possibility that these processing centers could be made more accessible to migrants, subsequently then removing some of the drives to use illegal smuggling tactics to get to Southern Europe but also making the processing centers more affordable for both parties by delegating the work to multiple groups that could more efficiently handle the proper implementation of processing center policy. (Mlambo, Urbina, 2020-2021)
2. Cooperation to Improve Human Rights- One of the most significant complaints from the now infamous New Yorker article, "The Secretive Prisons That Keep Migrants out of Europe," Ian Urbina, 2021, was the considerable amount of European Union involvement that had potentially led to human rights issues within many of the processing centers within North Africa. The problem was that the European Union had been funding many of these processing centers' development in countries in North Africa, albeit not enough development, to the point where the European Union had potentially been directly funding human rights-abusing migrant prison camps, especially in Libya. This was a highly problematic accusation followed by a considerable amount of evidence, leading to a humongous amount of attention being put on human rights issues in migration camps in North Africa. Perhaps a way to fix this issue and not have to recreate the infrastructure to do so thoroughly, a potential look at the Richard Toll processing center could provide evidence of a way to avoid human rights abuses in these camps and still have the European Union funding them but in a more developed and reformed way. The Richard Toll processing camp utilized a combination of European-based infrastructure and considerable help, especially with human rights and humanitarian care from the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Combined, these two groups effectively created a safe haven environment instead of a violent or aggressive environment that fostered more appropriate legal migration into the European Union instead of a considerable amount of illegal smuggling occurring as it does currently through European Union-funded processing centers in North Africa. By utilizing the European Union's many partnerships with the United Nations, such as the EU-IOM, or even agreements with the Red Cross, there is a potential that the European Union could create safe havens across North Africa that help to mitigate the migration issue. Also they can use many European Union partnerships and treaties as discussed in the previous policy recommendation, to better utilize resources and increase human rights in processing center camps. Along with this, by utilizing European Union infrastructure such as the EU Asylum Agency and the European Migration Network, a closer eye can be kept on these processing centers, especially in Libya and Tunisia, to make sure that human rights standards are kept to the level of which are appropriate for the European Union and the United Nations and potentially create a humanitarian environment that fosters safer migration into Europe that is also more often legal. (Urbina, European Council, Mlambo, Vives, 2016-2023)
3. Updating the Securitization and Externalization of Processing Centers- Currently, processing centers are spread across Africa and Southern Europe. Having many of these centers across such a vast region is potentially hazardous for the security and safety of many migrants crossing into Southern Europe. Most potentially new processing centers should more likely be placed within North Africa solely. (Urbina, 2021) By externalizing a majority of the processing centers in North Africa, especially countries like Libya and Tunisia, there is an ability to source most of the migrants to a specific area and more appropriately process them into Europe. Utilizing the previous two policy recommendations, many centers built within Libya and Tunisia should become more of a haven than a horrific prison. By improving on human rights and partnering with the African governments, many of these externalized processing centers should be improved and more effective at reducing illegal smuggling campaigns, increasing the number of legal migration crossings. Additionally, many of the current processing centers within North Africa can be retrofitted and improved to account for the higher standards that these policy recommendations entail. Along with this process, there should be centers that are put up within Southern Europe that are not processing centers but are designed to be receiving centers that not only can verify that people have crossed the Mediterranean safely but also provide them with programs and possible new systems that can assist them once they have arrived in the European Union. This particular portion of the policy recommendation is, of course, more complicated since many of the discussions in Brussels would be about which countries have to have these facilities and who should take on the responsibility to do so. Regardless of this, it is still achievable since the majority of the work will be done already in North Africa, and simply many of the centers within Southern Europe would simply be handled as retrieving facilities designed to make sure everyone has the right amount of care and assistance that is required when entering the European Union. These new infrastructural changes can be further improved upon by adding this securitization factor. By combining the efforts of Frontex, European Union Smuggling Center, Search and Rescue Operationalization, EU Asylum Agency, EUROPOL, and EURODAC, the European Union should be able to more effectively implement their security roles onto the ground where these processing centers are in North Africa since they will be more localized and significantly improved upon. Not only this, Frontex has been struggling for a very long time with being able to keep up with so much of the illegal smuggling occurring across the Mediterranean. By de-incentivizing this illegal trade by increasing the well-being and the capabilities of the processing centers in North Africa, Frontex and EUROPOL will be more effective in getting the now reduced smuggling campaigns apprehended. (Frontex, 2023) By externalizing the migration issue to North Africa and then securitizing the situation, the European Union can be more effective in its management of the migration crisis and substantially improve the safety of the people trying to cross into Europe and reduce the amount of illegal smuggling trade occurring on the ground in Libya and Tunisia. Perhaps then, the most critical policy change for the securitization front is better cooperation between EU infrastructural programs regarding migration and the Mediterranean security issue, as well as further partnerships between EU security and structure and North African coast guards as well as their security structures. A combination of the two, along with the improvements and externalization of the migration crisis into North Africa, could mean a much more effective capability of the security protocols of the European Union border agencies and potentially could lead to an overall solution to the migration crisis. (Frontex, European Council, 2023)
Conclusion
Migration into the European Union is perhaps one of the most controversial topics of the 21st century, and it encapsulates some of the most complex geopolitical issues currently occurring. With so much horror from the crisis, little positive has come out, but potentially the policy recommendations above might change that mentality towards it. By improving much of the way migrants get into Europe, there is a potential that the crossing can go from a potential tragedy to a safe and composed journey to the European continent. This can be achieved by improving the human rights standards in processing centers, improving many of the partnerships between the European Union and many other agencies around the world, and updating the securitization and externalization protocols of the European Union in order to keep everyone safer, protect the European Union's borders from illegal smuggling campaigns, and to improve the crossing to the European Union. These potential policy changes to the existing archaic processing center framework could improve the situations occurring in Libya and Tunisia as well as many other North African countries, potentially increase the European Union's image on this subject, and overall decrease the illegal smuggling trade into Southern Europe and improve the safety and human rights of all migrants on their arduous journey to the European Union. However, suppose nothing is to be done regarding the migration issue. In that case, the recent trends citing that it will become a much larger issue shortly means that the migration crisis could come back into full swing as it did with the Syrian immigrant crisis and potentially catch the European Union so off guard that there is no way to rebuild the system afterward.
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