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How far is Europe from the turbulence in North Africa? 113 kilometers or 70 miles. The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa sits just off the Tunisian coasts. More than 27,000 people have fled from North Africa since January, with the majority heading to Lampedusa and the final destination of Europe. Since the first few thousands of immigrants started to arrive to the island, they quickly outnumbered the local population and, understandably, some tension arose. In a few weeks, the immigration panic broke out in Europe. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, called it a ‘human tsunami’ and cried for help from the EU seeking to manage and disperse the immigrants across the continent. He did not receive any positive answer though. Rather, the EU governments have all but sought a solution to the situation.

EU legislation does not have any regulation on illegal immigration issues. Member states are supposed to find solutions following a “principle of solidarity” in order to share the burden of illegal immigration. Basically, one country asks another to receive some of the immigrants, but the other country has the right to refuse the proposal. The result, in the case of Lampedusa, is that nobody, with the exception of Malta, accepted the “burden sharing.” France went so far as to reject a train at the Italian border when found to be full of Tunisians. Moreover, Germany’s interior minister declared, “Italy alone must deal with the immigration crisis.”

What’s the outlook of these immigrants, though? RI visited North Africa in March and found that the situation is pretty complex. Most of the people who fled Libya to Tunisia, for example, are Tunisian or Bangladeshi workers trying to return home. Others are the “economic immigrants” who left their countries (Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) to find a better future in Europe. They are typically young (16 to 24 years old), unemployed, and wish to go back home once the tumult has passed. Finally, there are the Sub-Saharan Africans who seek asylum who are mostly Somalian, Eritrean, Ghanaian, Nigerian and Sudanese. They are fleeing Libya where they are often considered to be mercenaries hired by Gaddafi to fight the rebels. They are targets of violent attacks and harassment by both sides of the conflict, and often denied access to medical facilities and even food from shopkeepers.  Therefore, these people must be allowed to seek refugee status and their claims assessed. If then determined that they fled persecution and insecurity they deserve protection and appropriate assistance. Yet, the Italian government is not effectively carrying out this duty.

“Every revolution needs its time. It will take five to six years until our country will be back on track. We want our kids to be able to build their own dreams and hopes. We have that chance in Italy,” said a Tunisian immigrant in Lampedusa. The western idea of democracy, freedom and opportunity was more than just an inspiration for him.

The EU claims to be the world’s promoter of democracy, freedom and human rights. Nonetheless, its member countries have such restrictive policies towards the people that are seeking those ideals and rights. Instead, they fail to cooperate and assume a reasonable share of the burden.

Throughout the decades European countries could have more effectively helped the former North African colonies to develop economically and politically. Rather, they preferred to support moderate and authoritarian dictators that kept immigrants out of Europe. Yet, “Pandora’s Box” is now open and thousands of people want to flee to Europe, pushed by different reasons.

The EU needs to seek out solutions to cope with both economic migrants and asylum-seekers. The latter group should be interviewed, registered and protected as the international conventions dictate and the former group could even be a future resource for Europe. This seems unlikely though with the EU’s largest countries spreading panic on the media and eyeing spring elections.

In the meantime, the crisis has already arrived at the very border between Europe and the “new” Arab World: the tiny island of Lampedusa.





Picture by the UNHCR