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High Fences Do Not Make Good Neighbours (Sur)

An op-ed by EuroMed Rights EC Member Messaoud Romdhani

(published in Sur-International Journal of Human Rights, July 2016)

In order to combat irregular migration, so called “Fortress Europe” has resorted to tighter border controls and increased militarisation of the Mediterranean Sea. Such measures do not result in reduced numbers of migrants reaching Europe but rather in higher taxes, a higher dependency on unscrupulous smugglers and higher death tolls.

In this op-ed, Messaoud Romdhani briefly discusses how the European Union-Tunisia Mobility Partnership and the European Agenda on Migration have neither stemmed irregular migration from North Africa to Europe nor reduced the death toll at sea.

Romdhani comments that by blaming smugglers for irregular migration and the consequent drownings ignores the push factors that cause people to take the most important decision of their lives. It also diverts attention from the responsibility of European governments for the thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean each year. [READ THE ARTICLE]