The European Union’s misplaced response to increased flows of migrants and asylum seekers, including the failure to rescue boats in distress and pushbacks at land borders, is risking lives. At a time of severe humanitarian crises around the world, there are alarming signs that the EU is doubling down on externalising its border management and asylum responsibilities.
Over 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers reached the EU by sea in 2014, four times as many as in 2013. The Mediterranean is the world’s deadliest migration route. Over 3,200 died in 2014, and the death toll so far in 2015 is 470, compared with 15 in the same period last year.
The problematic EU response largely focuses on border enforcement and preventing departure from North Africa and elsewhere, rather than on improving search and rescue and creating safe and legal channels into the EU. Italy ended its massive humanitarian naval operation Mare Nostrum in November 2014, with the EU border agency Frontex launching the much more limited Triton operation. Despite increased funding for Frontex, it lacks the resources or, most important, the appropriate mandate to ensure robust search and rescue operations throughout the Mediterranean.
