With over one million migrants and 970,000 asylum applications within 2010-2017 alone, Europe is the primary destination for migrants worldwide and countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea such as Spain and Italy are mostly affected
With over one million migrants and 970,000 asylum applications within 2010-2017 alone, Europe is the primary destination for migrants worldwide. Countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea such as Spain, Italy, and Malta are mostly affected
Under the 2003 Dublin II Regulation, the first country in which an asylum seeker lands is solely responsible for examining that person’s asylum application. Predictably, this has placed greater strains on countries closest to Africa, the source of the vast majority of immigrants in the world.
These days In their bid to reach Europe, thousands of Africans have even resorted to putting their lives at risk as they go on a boat journey travelling across the Mediterranean anean sea in search of what they think would be a better and easier living.
Why do they do this? why do they take this risks?
What are the reasons for African migration to Europe through the mediterranen?
Below are the Top 7 Reasons Africans Take Dangerous Routes To Europe
1. Persecution/Instability
Persecution, worsening repression, Upheavals and instability across much of Africa have led to a massive increase in the number of Africans who have left their home country for Europe.
Whether the persecution is related to race, religion or political affiliation. Migration by sea and land is the last option for most people and it is all most African families can afford..
2. Escape Violence
Political instability and conflict are other factors pushing sub-Saharan Africans to move. For example, the number of sub-Saharans displaced within their own country nearly doubled to 9 million between 2010 and 2016, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates.
3. To Escape Poverty
The African continent has the poorest people in the world, (why because Populations in the region are swelling but farmland and economic security are shrinking). so yes, this without a doubt is one of the major reason why Africans are migrating out of the continent.
Most people leave to find work so they can remit funds to their impoverished family back home.
4. Jobs
One of the factors pushing people to leave Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa to Europe is jobs.
Many sub-Saharan African economies are
growing, many countries continue to have high unemployment rates and relatively low wage rates ergo the high povert rate. Against this backdrop, sub-Saharan Africans see migrating to countries with more and better paying jobs as a means of improving their personal economic prospects.
5. Children’s Bright Future
In the hopes of offering a better life for their children, many families have sent them out alone.
Many parents are also in the habit of sending their children to Europe for greener pasture. Some without money even go as far as going into all sorts of agreements with the sponsors.
6. Family Reunification
For parents who often have to send their children away ahead of them, coming to Europe is their chance to live as a family free of poverty, violence and persecution.
7. Protection
In their search for a place that offers an obligation to protect its citizens and other citizens alike, African migrants come with the hope that they will be protected in Europe, Displacement is something no person would want to go through more than once in their lifetime, so these people are looking for permanence as well.
Sources: cfr.org, dw.com ec.europa.eu pewglobal.org, the guardian.com | aljazeera.com
