The Dark Side of Europe's Migration Policies

African irregular migrants fleeing conflict, climate disasters, and poverty are caught in a deadly vortex between European Union's draconian immigration policies and the EU's support for third countries that mistreat them. The EU's proposal to condition development aid on reducing migration targets is a betrayal of human rights and a morally reprehensible attempt to shift the blame for its own failed policies onto Africa. While the EU's externalisation policy has reduced migrant arrivals by about 20 percent in the first five months of 2025, this decline has come at a steep human cost, with thousands of Africans dying in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, African governments, who oppose the EU's forced return of migrants, rely heavily on remittances sent by their citizens abroad, which have reached an estimated $100 billion in 2022.

Key Takeaways:

• At least 11 million African-born migrants reside in Europe, making them the largest group of the EU's irregular migrants, and contributing to the labour force and easing economic pressures.
• The EU's externalisation policy, coupled with the hostility of Italy and Malta towards rescue ships, led to 721 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean between June and July 2018, according to Amnesty International.
• The EU's records on respecting human rights in the context of migration are dismal, with Frontex involved in covering up hundreds of illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea and Polish border guards forcing migrants back into Belarus, where they were beaten and raped.
• The UNDP reported in 2019 that African migrants typically hold steady jobs and have higher education levels than in their home countries, but only 38 percent earn enough to get by, making migration a last resort.
• Reducing migration from Africa requires contributing generously to its development, not funding third countries to harden borders by any means, as the EU has chosen to do.

Statistics:

• $100 Billion: The estimated remittances sent by African citizens abroad in 2022, which is more than the continent received in official development assistance and foreign direct investment combined.
• $585 Million: The amount the EU has poured into engaging with source countries to reduce migration, an ineffective and inhumane approach.
• 2019: The year the UNDP published a report finding that African migrants typically hold steady jobs and have higher education levels than in their home countries.
• 38 Percent: The percentage of African migrants reported by the UNDP to earn enough 'to get by'.
• 721: The number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean between June and July 2018, according to Amnesty International.

Sources:

• Amnesty International [1]
• European Union [2]
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [3]