Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

(c) Eastern Mediterranean route, from Turkey to Greece. A smaller percentage
has steadily entered through the Eastern land borders to the European Union,
via the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the Nordic countries (Frontex routes
map; Triandafyllidou and Maroukis, 2012).
The Eastern Mediterranean corridor, notably via Greece’s land and sea
border with Turkey, remains one of the most travelled points of entry to the
European Union. According to Frontex, this route is mainly used by irregular
migrants from the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, Pakistan but also Iraq and
Somalia. In 2015, a record number of around 885,000 irregular migrants arrived
into the European Union via this path (Frontex, 2016b). One of the main features
of this route has been the alternating shifts in the flows between the land and
sea borders. While in 2008–2009, sea crossings from the Turkish coasts to the
Aegean islands (Samos, Lesvos and Chios) were the preferred routes, towards
the end of 2009, there was a sudden change: irregular migrants apprehended
at the Greek–Turkish land border quintupled, while those apprehended at
the sea borders fell by 70 per cent. In 2012, the routes have shifted again;
apprehensions fell dramatically at the Greek–Turkish land borders, but tripled
in 2013 and quadrupled in 2014. The same trend was maintained also in 2015;
the sea border and in particular the island of Lesvos accounted for almost all
irregular crossings into the country.
The Central Mediterranean route is reportedly mainly preferred by
sub-Saharan populations and in particular Eritreans, Ghanaians, Nigerians,
Senegalese and Somalis. Despite some recent fluctuations, this path has been
registering high numbers of irregular arrivals throughout the last 15 years. Italy
registered peaks in apprehensions at its sea borders in 2006–2007, then hit an
all-time low in 2009–2010 after the accords of the Government of Italy with the
Gheddafi regime in Libya to push back people who had set off the Libyan coast
to Italy. Numbers climbed dramatically in early 2011 and again in 2013–2014.
Arrivals remained high also in the course of 2015, although there was a relative
drop in the total number of irregular crossings compared to the year before
(Frontex, 2016c; Europol, 2016).
The Western Mediterranean route originates in sub-Saharan Africa and
mainly goes through Morocco to Spain, via the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla
in North Africa or the Canary Islands or indeed directly across the Gibraltar straits
to mainland Spain. About a decade ago, this route was mainly used by Moroccan
and Algerian migrants seeking better job opportunities in Europe. In the mid-
2000s, it became a preferred route for irregular migrants from sub-Saharan
Africa driven northwards by regional conflicts. However, over the past five years,
it has lost in significance and has been to some extent abandoned. In 2015, the
108
5. Europe