Spring has come. The weather is fine in the Mediterranean, and the sea is calm. Like every year, this is the time when media reports on large numbers of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean begin to multiply. In spring, we hear from government officials and journalists about the crisis engendered by a seemingly uncontrollable flood of migrants massing at the North African coast ready to cross to Europe. We hear how these migrants fall victim to ruthless smugglers who put their lives in danger, how they have gone through hell ‘transiting’ through many countries, again often smuggled across borders without valid papers.
This vision drives calls to intensify actions against ‘trafficking rings’ in the Mediterranean while at the same time save money on rescuing operations like mare nostrum, the Italian search and rescue operation that ran for much of last year. If ‘smugglers’ and ‘traffickers’ (the terms are employed interchangeably in this context) are caught and punished, we are told, migrants will cease to suffer at their hands. This may appear to make some sort of intuitive sense, especially because it is repeated to us ad nauseam in the press and by politicians, but that story is incomplete.
Libya is currently at the forefront of the news as the starting point for the deadly journey to Italy. However, it is worth considering the situation of migrants at other parts the northern African coast, particularly in those countries that have not been torn by civil conflict. These migrants’ experiences have primarily been shaped by recent changes to both European and domestic migration policies. In Morocco, for example, migrants waiting to move to Europe are mostly from Sub-Saharan African countries and have often spent five to ten years in the country. Some have unsuccessfully tried to cross several times, while others have never even attempted it because the price is high and the employment opportunities in Morocco are extremely limited.
