Our World in 2018

EUROPE’S FUTURE
Unwelcome
Europe
By Markella Papadouli
The last year and a half has been
extraordinary, full of unexpected
twists and turns: the election of
Donald Trump in the US, the suspension of
Cataluña’s autonomy in Spain, the explosion
of (recognition of) sexual harassment cases
around the world buoyed by the #MeToo
Campaign, the crystallisation of Brexit ...
In many ways, 2017 shook what we took
for granted and forced some change which
was latent.
2017 was a significant year also in the
perhaps because of the lack of change. Mass
movement of forced migrants continued,
similarly, worryingly, to years before it.
According to IOM 186,768 people fleeing
persecution, civil war, violence, destruction of
their homes, loss of their loved ones or simply
chronic and demeaning poverty, decided to
make a perilous journey to reach protection
in Europe. There are no reasonably accessible
legal routes for such migrants to reach safety
otherwise. Seeking asylum in European
embassies outside Europe remains a taboo
in the migration debate. In reality those who
want to leave have limited choices. They can
with people smugglers, organised criminals,
transport and border crossing, in exchange for
the migrant’s scarce money (or other forms of
exploitation), thereafter taking very little care
of their “client’s” safety.
In 2017, the overwhelming method of
arrivals (92%) in Europe according to IOM
was by sea. An estimated 3,116 people died
in transit, in addition to the 5,143 deaths at
Markella
Papadouli
Markella Papadouli
(LLM, MA) is a
GK
Registered European
Lawyer for the AIRE
Centre (Advice on
Individual Rights
in Europe) and a
Lecturer
in International
and European
Refugee Law at
London South Bank
University.
sea the year before, and the 3,777 the year
before that. 2018 has just started and already
404 people have been reported as dead or
missing at sea, adding to the numbers of the
previous years and making the Mediterranean
an underwater grave.
Those who selected the land crossings
fared little better. Some lost their lives on
the way due to extreme weather conditions,
exhaustion or lack of appropriate resources
and healthcare.
Some of those who managed to survive
did so in the hope of joining their family who
already live in Europe and could support them
in rebuilding their lives. But surviving the
journey is not a synonym to family reunion:
frustrating, dysfunctional and often unfair
asylum procedures, collective expulsions at
the borders or even complete border closure
are some of the ways that EU Member
States have chosen to address the migration
phenomenon.
This unwelcoming facet of EU Member
State behaviour has been captured in the
numerous pending cases and challenges
before domestic and European Courts.
And it is not just on dry land that the
EU Member States show an unfriendly
and sometimes hostile face. 2017 saw the
most peculiar phenomenon of domestic
investigation and prosecution of nongovernmental
organisations attempting to
rescue those in danger at sea (see the pending
case of the Juventa), an interesting coincidence
with Frontex’s reinforced mandate to counter
smuggling and the Italian imposed code
of conduct for NGOs wishing to continue
performing rescues in the Mediterranean.
Rescuing life at sea, an international obligation
pursuant to the law of the sea, in 2017 became
more complicated than ever. Indeed some
rescuers are now at risk of criminal liability.
The EU and the Common European
Asylum System, despite its reforms (still under
negotiation) have continued to fail migrants
and member states alike. The obsession with
which country’s responsibility it is to examine
a particular asylum application demonstrates
the inverse of the European spirit. Member
States kept playing “responsibility ping
pong”, using legal instruments such as the
40 2018 | OUR WORLD