Anti-migration policies in Libya, Tunisia, and Niger have had dire consequences, as highlighted by the more than 25,000 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean since 2014, a figure that does not fully capture the extent of the tragedy. To address these failures will require substantial policy changes and an evolution in approach to the migration issue.
Little Oumar, eight, was picked up by a humanitarian vessel called Ocean Viking a week ago in the Mediterranean as he crossed from Libya to Italy in a dinghy and is now doing well with his carers.
When people illegally migrate through precarious routes to Europe, which is colloquially referred to as ‘dunki’, the discourse surrounding these journeys and the migrants is: why put.