Nearly 70 dead as boat sinks near Italy: Where Europe’s migrant crisis stands today

How did the boat sink?

According to the AP, the migrants on the ill-fated boat went through smugglers who illegally transport people into countries.

In the early hours of Wednesday, Feb. 22, the migrants boarded a leisure boat on a beach near Izmir following a truck journey from Istanbul and a forest crossing by foot. However, engine failure saw them being shifted to another, less-equipped vessel that lacked enough life jackets. To avoid detection by police, they were told to lay low on the floor and were crammed into a small space.

Three days later, the boat was spotted by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, near the Ionian Sea. At the time, the boat showed “no signs of distress”, they claim to have noted. After this sighting, the Italian authorities dispatched two patrols to “intercept the vessel” but were unable to reach it due to bad weather. By this time, the boat was close to the Italian coast.

Early morning on February 26, fishermen spotted lights from phones being waved from the boat, which was now stuck on a sand bank. As waves continued to crash into the feeble vessel, it snapped throwing everyone into the frigid waters. The smugglers allegedly took the few lifejackets for themselves and ran away before authorities made their way to the wreck.

Italian police arrived at 4:30 AM, pulling out the survivors they could find as well as the bodies of those who had drowned.

Why did the migrants’ movement to Europe begin?

Migrants first began attempting to enter Europe in large numbers – and through increasingly dangerous sea routes – in 2015, a majority of them Syrians escaping the Islamic State and the war at home. Other refugees are from Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Albania – all trying to escape difficult economic conditions and political instability.

By the end of 2016, nearly 5.2 million refugees and migrants reached European shores. Thousands lost their lives or have gone missing since 2015. The image of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi’s body lying face down on a seashore in Europe became symbolic of the human cost of the crisis.

In 2021, more than 114,000 people risked their lives trying to reach Europe by sea; over 3,200 of them are dead or missing. Of those attempting these journeys, 40 per cent of sea arrivals are women and children.

And though the threat of Islamic State has subsided, other factors such as the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have increased the numbers of migrants and refugees once again. According to the latest Frontex data, 7.2 million people have fled Ukraine into the EU since the beginning of the war, including 6.3 million Ukrainians.

Are migrants the same as refugees?

As the United Nations High Commission on Refugees noted, there are two categories of people, migrants and refugees – the former being people who are looking for better opportunities in life while the latter being those attempting to escape attack and persecution due to threats like war. Policies on processing each group differ from country to country.

“Countries deal with refugees through norms of refugee protection and asylum that are defined in both national legislation and international law. Countries have specific responsibilities towards anyone seeking asylum on their territories or at their borders,” the UNHCR says.

However in practice, especially for migrants coming from developing countries, this distinction is harder to pin down. A migrant from a country like Afghanistan may not face any immediate political persecution. However, the conditions which make them seek out “a better life” in the West are intrinsically tied to war and political instability.

What has been Europe’s response?

The AP report noted the latest tragedy brought into focus “hardening” Italian and European migration policies, which have since 2015 shifted away from the policy of search and rescue in favour of border surveillance.

The 27 EU countries have not been able to formulate a uniform response or policy. Initially, Germany had been at the forefront of an integration approach under then Chancellor Angela Merkel and took in the most migrants. Hungary, Romania and some other countries were against such policies. States at the bloc’s sea borders, like Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus, tend to host the most refugees, reported DW in 2022. This is because the bloc’s current asylum system requires the country where a person first arrives to process the individual’s claim.

It also noted how the EU triggered a directive for the first time soon after the Russian invasion that grants all Ukrainians temporary protection anywhere in the union. This response was in contrast to how the response has been towards those coming from Asian and African countries.