Demonstration for the murders on the beach of Tarajal. Adolfo Lujan/flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Since the 1990s, the European Union (EU) has pursued a policy of ‘externalising’ its border controls. In exchange for aid and financial support, it requires North African states to implement measures to suppress irregular migration. Two facts about this policy are widely known, and have been for many years now. The first is that it doesn’t work. It has not stopped the unauthorised movement of people into Europe. The second is that it has appalling, and often lethal, consequences for migrants and refugees.
