August 25, 2018 Sea Rescue is NOT Negotiable say over 1000 who took to the streets of Munich to demand a stop to the criminalization of sea rescues in the Mediterranean Sea. Sachelle Babbar/Press Association. All rights reserved.
Although the number of migrants and refugees arriving in the European Union has decreased this year to numbers comparable to pre-2014, the probability of dying for migrants crossing the Mediterranean has increased. The International Organisation for Migration reports that more migrants are dying every year in their attempts to reach Europe: from 4 in 1000 in 2015 to 14 in 1000 in 2016 to 24 in 1000 in 2018.
This phenomenon seems even more surprising considering the growth of funds that European states and the Commission have accorded to migration management. Indeed, Frontex, the European border management agency, whose mission includes “saving lives at sea”, has seen its budget move from six million euros in 2005 to 320 million today. How can we understand such a paradox whereby migrant deaths and increased resources develop concomitantly?
