Migrant Tragedies: Europe or Africas Shame? Many Africans forced to migrate by EU actions: D. Flynn Press TV has conducted an interview with Don Flynn, Director, Migrants Rights Network (MRN) from London, about the issue of EU developments in Africa and how EU policies ignore human rights; create no jobs; and cause increased migration out of Africa to Europe. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview. Press TV: You have written about this saying that African migrants aren’t just fleeing to Europe, they’re fleeing from Europe’s legacy in Africa. So you see this as a more European problem do you? Flynn: I agree very much with what Alice (Alice Ukoko, Founder of Women of Africa) has said. What we’re dealing with here is not only the question of poverty, but it’s also the question of development... but a particular type of development. A development that we see for example in Ethiopia at the moment where there are giant hydro-electric dams being built in the south east of the country. A big step in the direction of modernity and economic development, but displacing tens of thousands of traditional people living in that area with no obvious jobs being created. Press TV: It’s not just the traditional people who are leaving, it’s often the well educated, it’s often the urban people who are trying to get out of the country. Flynn: That’s exactly right. The example of Ghana illustrates that. Last year the economy grew by 7 percent, the year before that it was 14 percent. One quarter of a million people entered the jobs market in Ghana, of whom only 2 percent found jobs there. And these are the educated [ones]; these are the kids who have done exactly what they were supposed to do - they’ve invested in their education, they’ve done their best and the jobs aren’t there for them. In those circumstances it is no surprise that these people see themselves looking for a future, they can’t find it in their own country, they have to move elsewhere. Press TV: The tone has softened from the European Union …, has it not, particularly the tone of the Italian government, which has put great pressure to do something about this - to ramp up the naval patrols. What more do you want to see from the European Union and from the African Union? Flynn: I think the big problem with the European Union is that it’s approach to Africa is that it is all about returns. There is only really one big immigration issue on the agenda when the Europeans sit down with the Africans and that is, ‘you’ve got to take back the people that we’re deporting’. And they keep coming back to that time and time again. Press TV: We’re talking about a huge bill aren’t we - the EU’s bill on this? They were spending 20 million Euros in 2006; and it was nearly 90 million Euros by 2010. It’s probably around 100 million now. This is a very significant amount of money. Is this money well spent? Flynn: No the money is not well spent and it’s not just the Europeans who are incurring these costs, it is also the African countries. Countries like Morocco; countries of the Maghreb assume huge levels of responsibility of ethic and pride. Press TV: Some are getting paid by the European Union not to do this - Colonel Gaddafi when he was alive was being paid. Flynn: Certainly there was all sorts of opportunities of that sort taking place there. The fact of it is... is it really in the interest for example of Algeria to be policing its border with Niger in the way that the Europeans demand that it does; that they securitize the whole chain of migration that goes deep into the heart of Africa when in fact Algeria has always needed workers. Their gas fields, their industrialization in that country has always been dependent on the movement of migrants coming from other parts of Africa. And yet it does create the sort of tragedies that we had only a week or so ago where a group of women apparently, they weren’t coming to Europe they were actually coming to visit their relatives. Press TV: Yes, the situation in Niger and a lot of people have pounced on this situation to say ‘ah’ maybe that’s one solution because the government of Niger following that tragedy, where around 90 or so women and children perished trying to cross the Sahara to get to Algeria. They closed down the camps and they threatened great punishment on people smugglers. What kinds of rights do you think those people who are trying to get to Europe traveling across the Sahara and the Mediterranean, what rights do they need? Flynn: I think the first right is the right for their travel to be safe and secure. There’s a lot that can be done and can be done immediately in order to do what we call ‘safe guarding’. Press TV: How do you do that when much of this is underground? Flynn: By bringing it up from underground and putting it on the surface. We know that people go; we know that men migrate to Algeria in order to work in gas fields. It’s only a matter of time before the women and children want to go and visit them. In those circumstances, it ought to be absolutely clear that they have a right to do that and that the travel that they make from whatever country that they’re in is going to take place in safe and secure circumstances. Press TV: For that right to be guaranteed you’re going to need Algeria to say yes OK even though you’ve come and you haven’t come through the right channels, we’re going to accept you because we need labor. Are they prepared to do that? And also you’ve got the government - I suppose the host government - whether it’s Niger, whether it’s Nigeria, they’re going to have to agree with this too, aren’t they? Flynn: There are models for doing this. In West Africa, there is a free movement regime that extends right across the West African economic community - Tremendous progress has been made there at the moment. And it’s a question of building on these models. But I think the principle ought to be there and it ought to be reiterated time and time again that the business of traveling within the African continent ought to be safe and secure. There are obviously hazards there in terms of the infrastructure, in terms of the conditions that people travel in; but we need an absolute assurance that instead of closing down safe havens [we would provide a place] where people can stop and refresh themselves, have access to water and so on; exactly the opposite needs to be done. Press TV: So you’re making this appeal to, what, the African Union or to member states? Where does the power lie? It’s within member states, isn’t it? Flynn: That is difficult. In a couple of weeks time there is going to be a meeting of parliamentary bodies of the Africa Union and the European Union at the same time. And the problem is that whenever the African Union sits down with Europe they get a list of demands about ‘secure your borders’; maintain over people crossing from one place to the other, even if it’s still a thousand miles away from the Mediterranean, make sure that you’re monitoring all of this progress. And trade and commerce and aid are often made dependent on these tasks actually being secured. We have to break with that. It would be helpful and I’m quite sure that there is a mood within Europe itself in sorts of organizations that we represent... If there was real leadership coming out of the African Union on the basis of an appeal about development and human interest and human rights then it would be taken up within Europe itself in order to amplify. presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336436/africans-flee-europes-legacy-in-africa/
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 21:00:00 +0000
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