Vol. 79/No. 21 June 8, 2015
Wars in Syria and Iraq, with roots in the imperialist-imposed borders and tyrannies in the region, coupled with terror unleashed on working people by the reactionary Islamic State, have pushed millions from their homes and out of their native countries.
An increasing number of refugees are seeking to get to the EU countries. Several highly publicized disasters, with boats capsizing and hundreds drowning, have fed into the political crisis of the splintering union.
The response of Europe’s capitalist ruling families has been to move to close their borders. On May 18 foreign and defense ministers of EU member states agreed to Navfor Med, a mission to use naval forces to intercept ships carrying refugees. Their goal is to stop boats promptly after they leave Libya, return the refugees to African shores and destroy the vessels. The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. have pledged to deploy warships in the Navfor Med fleet, which would be based in Rome under the command of Italian Rear Adm. Enrico Credendino.
The United Kingdom is spearheading the effort to get approval for the plan in the U.N. Security Council. The force will operate inside the territorial waters of North African nations and require agreement from the targeted countries.
After more than 300 people drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, Italy’s government launched the Mare Nostrum rescue mission. The navy and coast guard patrolled nearly 17,000 square miles of the Mediterranean with deep-sea vessels, helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft. It picked up some 166,000 people in little over a year. It ended when the Italian government announced in October it would no longer shoulder the program’s $12 million monthly operating cost. The only help other EU governments had provided was one patrol boat from Slovenia.
A high-ranking diplomat in Brussels reported that the German government pressured the Italian interior ministry to end the rescue operation, according to Der Spiegel April 24. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière described Mare Nostrum as “subsidizing traffickers.”
“We do not support planned search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean,” U.K. Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay declared in Parliament last October. “We believe that they create an unintended ‘pull factor,’ encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths.”
Between January and April this year 1,800 people have drowned, 17 times as many as the same period last year. According to European officials, more than 20,000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean during the past two decades, making it one of the most deadly journeys in the world.
Last year 626,000 people applied for asylum in EU countries, according to Eurostat. Every indication is that this record will be surpassed this year.
The self-declared government that controls Tripoli and much of west Libya has put up the refugees as a bargaining chip to get international recognition. It opposes military intervention unless the EU agrees to work with it. The territory used to launch the boats is controlled by Tripoli and centered around Misurata. Libya’s internationally recognized government, which is located in Tobruk, opposes the plan.
According to EU regulations, refugees have to stay in the place where they first set foot on European soil. The countries on the outer borders, especially Italy and Greece, have long tried to change this and argued for a quota system across the union. Led by the U.K., Denmark and the Netherlands, virtually all other member states have opposed this.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime estimates there might be 600,000 refugees on North Africa’s coast who could try to get to Europe by sea, and that at least 80 percent of the people leaving North Africa have paid smugglers or a smuggling network to take them over. For most of the refugees, this is their only option.
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Asian refugees at sea offered temporary relief
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