According to Fortress Europe, since 1988 at least 13,280 people have died trying to enter Europe. Among them 5,127 went missing at sea. 9,395 migrants died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic Ocean towards Spain. The alternative route to Spain from Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria, through the Gibraltar strait or via the Canary islands, has witnessed the death of at least 4,347 people, and the disappearance of a further 2,215. It is likely that some of these victims were refugees fleeing persecution in countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Others risked the dangerous crossing in the hope of finding work or family members in Europe.
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The Refugee Council research report entitled ‘Remote Controls: how UK border controls are endangering the lives of refugees’ outlines the many measures adopted by the UK and other European Member States, to prevent irregular migration to Europe. These measures, including visa restrictions, document verification procedures at airports and biometric data gathering, are implemented far from UK territory with the aim of preventing irregular migrants, from leaving their country of origin or transit. These measures also affect refugees fleeing persecution. As a result, some are forced to take risks including dangerous sea journeys in overcrowded and barely seaworthy boats, often resulting in the death of men, women and children. We recorded a number of cases of asylum seekers who endured frightening sea journeys across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen or over the Mediterranean sea to Malta, Italy or Spain. Others barely survived long truck journeys across the Sahara to Libya or over the mountains into Turkey, with no food or water and under constant fear of attack by smugglers or discovery by armed forces.
These images reveal the consequences of many desperate attempts to reach Europe; shattered boats, sodden clothing, lost bodies. These migrants attract media attention but the border controls that seek to prevent their entry exist below the radar of the media and public oversight. Our research seeks to shine a light on the terrible cost paid by irregular migrants, including people in need of protection, in their effort to reach safety in Europe.
