The EU’s outsourced migration control is violent, expensive and ineffective
The EU’s approach to managing migration flows depends heavily on outsourcing border control to non member countries, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
- The EU’s approach to managing migration flows depends heavily on outsourcing border control to non member countries, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
- Many far-right politicians enthusiastically back this policy: 19 nations recently signed a letter calling to go “beyond the EU’s migration pact” and further externalise migration control.
- These outsourced humans rights violations contravene the EU values of freedom, justice and dignity, and jeopardise its influence as a values based power.
An expensive, ineffective strategy
- Europe’s externalised border control can be traced back to the early 2000s, but gained real momentum during the 2015 migrant crisis.
- Since then, huge sums have been sent to neighbouring countries under the guise of “migration management”.
- These include the 2016 EU-Turkey Deal, a €6 billion agreement aimed at curbing migration but effectively increasing Turkey’s leverage over the EU.
Cruelty and suffering
- This practice involves driving migrants (including children and pregnant women) into remote desert areas and leaving them to fend for themselves.
- One example of how this has played out is the EU’s cooperation with Libya to stem migration across the Mediterranean.
- Over the last few years, reports have emerged of severe abuses against migrants in Libya – including men being sold at slave auctions – highlighting the extreme cruelty faced by migrants trapped there.
Weaponising migration
- Entrusting key security functions to unstable or autocratic regimes also leaves the EU vulnerable to political crises and manipulation of migration flows.
- Since then, Turkey has also adopted a similar strategy, despite receiving an additional €3 billion on top of the 2016 migration deal.