Critical Reflections on European Migration Policy vis-à-vis North Africa

by Sokfa John

In this piece, Sokfa John argues that the November 2015 Valletta summit is problematic because it requires African leaders to help Europe in its anti-migration agenda. John also argues that in opposition to its current policy, Europe would greatly benefit from more open migration policies vis-à-vis North Africa. As always, we look forward to our readers’ comments.

North Africa is one of the world’s most significant hubs of international migration. It is a convergence of a complex mix of migration systems, routes and experiences due to the region’s proximity to Europe and the seemingly easier access via the Mediterranean for illegal and legal migration to Europe. Migrants access the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from northern Morocco and the Canary Islands from the southern part of the country. From Libya and Tunisia, migrants are able to reach Sicily and Lampedusa in Italy as well as Malta.

The significance of North African countries as sending/origin, transit and destination sites for migrants rests largely on this strategic position. The postwar industrial demand for low-skilled workers in Europe, especially France, saw massive recruitments and movement of people from Egypt and the Maghreb countries to work in Europe. Migrant numbers grew even when their services were no longer needed. Following the economic crisis in the 1970s, migrants became a scapegoat in France, as argued by Louisa Zanoun, where many began to construct migrants as a ‘problem’ and threat to French culture, economy and society, with a consequent heightening of hostility and racist responses towards such migrants.

Migration from North African has strained social services, politics and conceptions of cultures of European countries, especially landing countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, causing increasingly tense relations between European and North African states. Negative responses to migrants have persisted and are common to most host communities within and outside Africa. Despite ostensibly noble programs and policies for incorporation and assimilation into European societies, migrants who do not have economic value to host countries suffer hostilities, exclusion and exploitations. Host countries also typically tighten migration laws and policies. But instead of adequately addressing the issue, such responses often cause more irregular migration, higher migration risks, and an increase in underground economic activities. The ending of recruitment agreements by France in the 1970s only changed the destination and patterns of migration from North Africa rather than end it altogether. Presently, over 80 percent of migrants from North Africa are in Europe and two-thirds of the total population of migrants in Europe are North African, with Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal as some of the key arrival countries. Furthermore, other migrants increasingly explore North Africa as a transit region. Hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa – and more recently, Asian countries – arrive in Morocco and other routes on their way to Europe. Hundreds get stranded in Morocco for many years, and many who are unable to make it across or were turned away prefer to settle in the North African region due to its perceived relative stability, better economic possibilities and safety compared to their home countries.

Such migration complexities constitute no small challenge for all stakeholders. Migrants face threats of deportation, xenophobia and other ills from both African and European transit and host environments. Countries such as Morocco have also taken advantage of migration trends—managing unemployment by supporting migration to Europe despite resistance and pressures from Europe.

It seems however, that European strategies for managing migration, aside from stricter laws, revolve around violently and persistently constructing African migration as a ‘problem’ that must be ended, through cooperation with sending and transit African countries and aid. The November 2015 Valletta summit on migration, sponsored by the European Council, and EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which was launched at the Valletta summit, provide, perhaps, the most recent confirmation. In fact, the trust fund comes across as a ‘bribe’ to badly functioning African leaders to close their eyes to, or even help Europe in, the pursuit of its anti-migration agenda: to keep Africans out of Europe as much as possible without a thorough understanding of the needs of migrants and the nature of the migration phenomenon. The very increase in migration flows despite a history of development aid to Africa should be indicative of how aid alone can fail to solve complex political and economic problems in migrant-sending countries. As Laura Hammond rightly illustrates, underneath the Valletta summit and trust fund are unrealistic assumptions and an attempt to address problems in Europe that hardly concern the development of migrants’ home countries.

The quality of life in many African households has been more directly improved by remittance from emigrated family members than by aid from the West or policies of many Western or African states, as figures from Egypt and Morocco also indicate. In many cases, the state itself or its failure to address local problems actually causes forced migration. And with complicated political and economic problems, including corruption and a record of misuse of foreign aid by governments, it is hard to believe that the European leaders’ strategy is genuine and that their African counterparts will cooperate.

A quick survey of the response of many Europeans to media about recent tragic experiences of Europe-bound migrants suggests that many Europeans see migration as an effort by third world citizens to destabilize and adulterate their ‘pure’ and ‘stable’ society with pre-modern and untamable lifestyles. The inflow and lives of migrants in Europe is talked about in rhetoric that is reminiscent of a racist and colonial approach to development in Africa. It is for that same reason that the current migration flow is probably a very positive development for Europe and the world. The horrible experiences of migrants and the conditions that force many to hit the road is really nothing to celebrate. Nonetheless, Europe needs the disruption, the intrusion, the cracking of its shells, and the close proximity of ‘difference’ in order to develop a better and more humane understanding and interaction with the rest of the world, as well as more honest strategies for development in Africa. Such strategies must include acceptance, openness, flexibility and integration rather than the more typical counterproductive policies discussed above. If anything, the growing backlash on migrants, including that against the recent Syrian migrants, reveals that contrary to its dominant self-image, Europe is also capable of xenophobia, deep hatred and violence towards others when the opposite is most needed.

Sokfa John is a postgraduate student who has critical interest in postcolonial African society, religion and new media.

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