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Eat your vegetables
Super Moderator
Location: Arabidopsis-ville
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Fleeing Libya
Quote:
Hundreds Dead as Migrant Boat Sinks Off Libya
April 1, 2009
New York Times
By ALAN COWELL
PARIS — As high winds buffeted the Mediterranean, at least two vessels smuggling illicit migrants from North Africa ran into trouble off the coast of Libya and more than 200 people seeking a new life in Europe may have drowned, officials from the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy, a spokesman for the organization at its headquarters in Geneva, said a seasonal wind sweeping from the Libyan desert churned the seas on Monday and apparently capsized one ship with 257 people on board about 30 miles off the coast. The other ship, carrying 356 migrants, reported that it was in difficulty and was towed to Libya, according to another official with the group, another official from the International Organization for Migration, Laurence Hart, who was in Tripoli.
Twenty-three people were rescued by workers from a nearby oil-drilling platform, and about 20 bodies were recovered. By Tuesday afternoon, rescue efforts had been halted, Mr. Chauzy said in a telephone interview. If the missing are confirmed dead, the toll would be among the highest from a single incident in many years of fatal accidents relating to unauthorized migration into southern Europe.
Mr. Chauzy said his organization was “still without news of two other boats that were caught out in the storm.” It was not clear whether they were fishing boats or smugglers’ boats, however.
Every year, tens of thousands of poverty-stricken people try to cross from Libya to Italy — a favored destination for migrants seeking to circumvent European immigration restrictions, often via a small Italian island called Lampedusa between the coasts of North Africa and Sicily.
The crossing spans a divide between the poverty of the developing world and the perceived riches of lands to the north. Once they have landed in the European Union, migrants may travel with ease among the 15 of the union’s 27 member nations that are grouped by the so-called Schengen agreement, which permits travelers to cross borders without identity papers.
Even as European economies shrink because of the global recession, the number of would-be migrants is unlikely to ease since their own homelands are also blighted by the economic slump.
In the past, smugglers suspended the crossings in the winter months because of the dangers posed by the weather, but “it is no longer a seasonal trend,” Mr. Chauzy said. “It’s ongoing. The arrivals on Lampedusa are regular.”
In recent years, many poorly equipped and overcrowded vessels operated by human smugglers have been reported missing in the Mediterranean with their human cargo lost or subsequently rescued.
“The boats have been stripped of everything to pack as many people in as possible so there are no life jackets,” Mr. Chauzy said. “The option of survival is fairly limited.”
“Because the boats are overcrowded and top-heavy they often capsize, and that sounds like a possible explanation this time,” he said.
Most of the migrants pay smugglers significant amounts of money for a place on the ships, but are often abandoned at sea. According to the International Organization for Migration, some 37,000 people crossed from North Africa to Lampedusa in 2008. Libya has become a collecting point for illegal immigrants who try to save money there to buy a place on a smuggler’s boat to Europe. In February, Italy and Libya signed an accord that was supposed to stem the flow.
Some migrants find menial work that Europeans disdain, but their presencehas jolted many societies, including Italy’s.
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I'm clueless when it comes to Lybia's politics. This is the first I've heard of people fleeing the country. I suppose it's more of a meeting point for immigrants from other countries. But specifically what other countries - and how are these immigrants being received by Italy and the European Union in general? Apparently they're willing to risk their lives in pursuit of a better life in Italy.
A few questions for discussion:
Why are they leaving their homes?
Are they fleeing hunger, politics, or war?
Are they successful in circumventing the proper immigration channels, or are they running away only to run into a brick wall?
Does anyone know anyone who has entered the EU in such a fashion - and how did they fare?
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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq
"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy
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