The issue of African migrants has long been concern for Western nations, struggling to accommodate the new arrivals, and African states facing a “brain drain” with their citizens leaving to seek new opportunities. Since June this year, the plight of African migrants has been making headlines.
Ethiopia’s illegal migrants are on the rise with more than 600,000 people having left the country in the past year to seek a better life elsewhere. The exodus shows no sign of abating, despite the country’s relative economic growth.
Many Somali youth are also ready to do whatever it takes to leave Somalia for Europe in search of better living. But as CCTV’s Mohamed Hirmoge reports, there are deadly risks involved.
The plight of African migrants seems to be a continental issue with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reporting that many Africans are finding themselves in poor migration conditions. This is due to various economic situations prevailing in many countries. CCTV sought views from Mutuma Ruteere, who is a Special Rapporteur in the High Commissioner’s Office.
Following the Lampedusa tragedy, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), ran a campaign in Senegal to encourage people to stay home.
Barely months into the Lampedusa tragedy and there was another disaster involving African migrants. This time it was off the coast of Malta, a tiny European island found between Sicily and Libya. 300 African migrants drowned.
Migrants who survived the Lampedusa incident claim they were shot at as they left Libya. UNHCR’S regional representative for southern Europe Laurens Jolles, said the shooting damaged the migrants’ ship, which in turn began to take in water, before eventually capsizing.
Barely a month later, another boat arrived on the Lampedusa coast carrying 137 people. The boat’s arrival shows that many migrants are still prepared to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean despite hundreds who have drowned making the same journey.
A day later Italian forces rescued more African migrants
Italy declared a state of emergency in Sicily, following the disaster and called on the European Union to provide more funds to help deal with the wave of migrants arriving on its shores on an almost daily basis. African migrants however, continue risking their lives for better lives abroad despite past tragedies.
Aline Mugisho, the Public Relations Officer for Africa Diaspora Forum in South Africa, was able to provide an insight as to why African migrants continue to make the perilous journey
While some far-right anti-immigration movements are pushing for tighter controls, there are pockets of tolerance across Europe. CCTV’s Kate Parkinson takes us to a small village in Italy-where immigrants are embraced.
Once a transit point to Europe for illegal immigrants, Libya has now become the point of settlement for many looking for a better life. Migrant workers are moving into Libya by their thousands from Sub Saharan Africa, taking advantage of the country’s weak border security and angering many Libyans in the process.
Ethiopia’s joined the fray on the discussion of illegal migrants with the government temporarily banned its citizens from travelling abroad to look for work untold physical and psychological trauma.
One of the countries in reference was the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). So the government started recalling its citizens living illegally in the kingdom.
Online however, the ‘war’ had already erupted with Ethiopians shaming Saudis for their alleged inhumane treatment of migrant workers. It all started with a tweet under the hashtag #SomeoneTellSaudiArabia. Here is how it unravelled https://cctvafrica.cctv-news.net/?p=540
Israel’s parliament then passed a a controversial bill dictating that African migrants can be detained for a year without trial.
This caused protests from the African migrants in Israel. This video was courtesy of John Brown on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/john.brown.3591
