EU border agency reports a 38% drop in illegal crossing
The latest Frontex report suggests a significant drop in irregular crossing at EU borders as a result of intensified cooperation against smuggling cartels per Africanews on January 15th.
The latest EU borders agency figures show a 38% drop in irregular border crossing across the 27 countries of the European Union.
However, the data only accounts for detected irregular crossings, leaving uncertainty as to the real figure as migrants may try to cross in different points of the border.
Frontex attributes the overall results to a spectacular 59% decrease of arrivals via the traditional Central mediterranean route involving fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya.
Tunisia, a key ally for EU’s border externalisation policy, has been pinned down by various NGOs including Amnesty for its treatment of refugees involving arbitrary arrests and dumping refugees in the desert at the border with Algeria.
Libya again according to Amnesty has also garnered significant international attention for the human right abuses committed on migrants intercepted at sea and taken to detention centres, creating legitimate concerns on its continuing partnership with the EU.
Immigration is at its lowest, Frontex suggests, since 2021 when low figures could be attributed to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Despite evidence of irregular arrivals decreasing, smuggling networks are very much operating and constantly evolving says Frontex.
Likewise, dangerous sea crossings which have caused 28,854 deaths and disappearances between 2014 and 2023 per the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) continues steadily.
The latest route, involving a crossing from western Africa to the Canary Islands has registered a 18% hike of illegal arrivals.
On the other side of Europe, the Balkan route shows a 78% decrease in detections amid reports of increasing violence by smugglers.
In the past fifteen years, migration has come to dominate political discourse across Europe, with far-right parties gaining success in in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Africanews, Amnesty, IOM
