Rift Over Refuge

Despite the reduced inflow, migration continues to tear the European Union apart

- Anita Pratap

 

IT IS THE world’s most perilous journey. For curly-haired, fine-featured 16-year-old Omar, who resembles Michael Jackson, it all began in war-ravaged Yemen. Brutal Saudi carpet-bombing has resulted in what the UN calls a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis”. Worried about his safety and future, Omar’s family sold their meagre belongings to fund his journey to the promised land of safety and prosperity: Europe. Says Omar, “I was sad and scared to leave my family, but I was full of hope. Once I find a job, I dream of bringing them.”

But then, the nightmare began. After a seven-day voyage across the Red Sea in a ramshackle wooden boat, he landed in Sudan—and into hell. Beaten, abused, thrown into jail and out again, he fell into the web of human smugglers. He travelled to Libya, crossing the scorching Sahara Desert in an open, jam-packed truck for three weeks. “It was a nightmare. No food—and worse, no water–for days in terrible heat,” he says. Eventually, he crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe in a crammed, heaving dinghy that began listing dangerously. They would have drowned had not an NGO ship rescued them and taken them to Porto Empedoclo in Sicily in southern Italy. Authorities may grant asylum as he is fleeing war.

But Ismael from Niger will most likely be sent back. He came to Europe in a creaky boat with standing room only, after spending months in a teeming, filthy Libyan camp where he was sodomised by the armed traffickers. Conditions were so unhygienic, he contracted scabies. He is fleeing poverty. Europe does not give refuge to illegal economic migrants.