Border Politics Migration in the Mediterranean DOSSIER Impressum Herausgeber Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Schumannstraße 8 10117 Berlin www.boell.de Das Online-Dossier wurde veröffentlicht auf www.migration-boell.de im Juli 2009. Direktlink: http://www.migration-boell.de/web/migration/46_2173.asp V.i.S.d.P. Olga Drossou, MID-Redaktion, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Dossier-Redakteur: Timon Mürer Picture credits Cover photo: home to go, 2001, Plaster, marble, dust, tiles, rope, dimensions variable p. 4: The Line 2007; Dyptich framed photograph, cm 60 x 74.5 each (framed), p. 34: Centro di permanenza temporanea, 2007, Video still p. 49: Centro di permanenza temporanea, 2007, Video still They appear by courtesy of gallery Francesca Kaufmann, Milan. The art works presented in this dossier are all by Adrian Paci, an Albanian artist born 1969 in Shkoder and now based in Milan. Among other awards, he is has won the Prize of the Quadrennial of Rome 2008. Of growing international renown, his work has been exhibited all across Europe, in Israel, Australia, and the United States. In his work, Adrian Paci frequently makes reference to the experience and fate of migrants, as for example in his prize-winning video “Centro di Permanenza Temporanea” (2007). The title refers to the Italian name for the temporary camps for migrants arriving daily on the Italian coast. Linguistically, it offers a paradox, a tension between a temporary and permanent existence, a tension Paci maintains in this film, where men and women board a plane to nowhere. They remain trapped between the transitory and the fixed, a state which speaks to the dislocation of migrants across the globe. The dossier including its individual articles is published under a Creative Commons Licence. The work may be copied, distributed and transmitted under the following conditions: • Attribution – You must name the author and the licensor (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung) as well as the URL of the work. • Noncommercial — You may not use this work and its contents for commercial purposes. • No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work or its contents. Any of the above conditions can be waived by permission from the licensor. Please read the full binding legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de/legalcode (in German). This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein DOSSIER Border Politics – Migration in the Mediterranean Content About the dossier 5 I Realities & Responses 6 CHARLOTTE WIEDEMANN Mythen der Migration 7 LOREN LANDAU: Gazing Northward: African Impacts of European Immigration Policy and Practice 13 SUNNY OMWENYEKE The ‘Fortress Within’: Restriction of Movement and Refugee Self-Organisation 18 MANUEL FERRER MUÑOZ The social challenges of immigration in the Canary Islands The special case of Colombians 23 JOHANNES KRAUSE Das Sterben an den EU-Außengrenzen Die Normalität in der Anormalität 26 INTERVIEW MIT YAHI BAYAM DIOUF „Eine Ehe ist die einzige Möglichkeit zu bleiben“ 32 II Policies & Impacts 35 DEREK LUTTERBECK From Blame Game to Cooperation Coping with the “Migration Crisis” in the Central Mediterranean 36 JEAN-PIERRE CASSARINO Mobility Partnerships: Rationale and Implications for African-European Relations 39 GABRIELE DEL GRANDE Guantanamo Libya. The New Italian Border Police 43 MUSTAFA O. ATTIR Libya's Border Management System: Mission Impossible 46 III Critical Perspectives 50 VASSILIS TSIANOS UND AIDA IBRAHIM Don’t believe the hype! Bordermanagment, Development und der Boomerang-Effekt 51 HENK VAN HOUTUM AND ROOS PIJPERS The European Union as a Gated Community: The Two-faced Border and Immigration Regime of the EU 55 BERND KASPAREK Frontex. Kritiken, Konzeptionen, Konstruktionen 66 JULIANE KARAKAYALI UND SERHAT KARAKAYALI Liminal People 70 3 DOSSIER Border Politics – Migration in the Mediterranean Œ The Line 2007; Dyptich framed photograph, cm 60 x 74.5 each (framed) courtesy francesca kaufmann, Milan 4 DOSSIER Border Politics – Migration in the Mediterranean About the dossier The 1999 Treaty of Amsterdam states that the Euro- by prohibiting them to apply for asylum, by keeping pean Union is to be an area of freedom, security, and them in camps indefinitely or by lack of access to health justice. Establishing this freedom within the European care. Union confronts the EU with the problem of its external borders and the need to safeguard them. Indeed, The issues related to migration pose manifold chal- Europe’s emergent border regime with ever stricter visa lenges to all affected countries, sending, transit, and policies, tighter border controls, the border agency regions of destination alike. With the “Global Approach Frontex and the (partial) externalisation of responsibili- to Migration” (GAM), adopted by the EU in December ties to Morocco or Libya have earned the EU the un- 2005 at least rhetorically steps have been made to- gainly title “Fortress Europe”. wards linking migration and development, as for exam- ple in the case of mobility partnerships. This also shows Yet even though the harmonisation of immigration, the stronger bargaining position of a number of African asylum and refugee policies was an explicit aim of the states. Structural imbalances –especially Europe’s Amsterdam Treaty already ten years ago, a coherent agricultural policy- persist, though, and it remains to be and legitimate European approach to migration is still seen if diplomatic progress will also translate in a wanting, not to speak of the appalling state of the pro- deeper respect for the rights of migrants. tection of the migrants’ human rights. On the contrary, fragmentation and bilateral agreements are proliferat- The articles in this dossier shed critical light on several ing, the recent agreement between Italy and Libya related sites of Euro-Mediterranean border manage- being a prominent case in point. ment. They look at the “border within” as well as the effects of the exterritorialisation strategy in the Libyan The majority of migrants heading towards Europe use example. They show both the deadly and the “produc- regular routes. But with ever increasing legal restric- tive” aspects of the border regime. And they analyse the tions also more and more people try to get into Europe rationale and impacts of such measures as the mobility irregularly. Especially in the Mediterranean, this has partnerships between EU and African states or new created the phenomenon of the boat people, who try to attempts of cooperation in the Central Mediterranean. reach Malta, Lampedusa, and other shores. In the past few years thousands have died trying to reach Europe This dossier takes up and pursues central questions in their makeshift boats. Others find themselves in discussed at the international conference “Fortress or desolate camps in Italy or in the Libyan desert. Count- Area of Freedom? Euro-Mediterranean Border Man- less are the cases in which the basic human rights of agement” which took place in May 2009 in Berlin. migrants and refugees are systematically ignored, be it Olga Drossou Timon Mürer Editor www.migration-boell.de Editor dossier Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung 5 DOSSIER Border Politics – Migration in the Mediterranean I Realities & Responses How is it possible that thousands of people drown every • Travelling to the hotspots of migration German jour- year in the Mediterranean Sea, while the protection of nalist Charlotte Wiedemann searches for the real- individual life is a core value in Europe’s self- ity behind the "Myths of Migration" perception? How do European immigration policies and • “Gazing northward” Loren Landau points out that practises impact on Africa? What are the reasons why migration within Africa is more important than to- young people from coastal Senegal decide to leave wards Europe –but European policies and practises their home? Why is it that so many Colombians are still have an immense impact. migrants to the Canary Islands, what should be done to • Sunny Omwenyeke writes on the “Fortress Within”, help them in their situation? What are the specific politi- the repressive conditions undocumented migrants cal conditions under which refugees and undocumented and refugees have to live under–and struggle migrants have to live in Germany, and what do they do against. to oppose their manifold discrimination? • Manuel Ferrer Muñoz calls for a better understand- ing of the reasons for migration and the conditions Migration into Europe is a multifaceted issue with a in which migrants live, illustrated by case of the Co- deep impact on European and African societies, as well lombians in the Canary Islands. as cutting across virtually all social fields, from the la- • Johannes Krause shows how discursive means bour market to health issues to questions of national or allow governments and EU institutions to portray European identity. Yet equally varied are the responses the death of thousands of migrants as “normal”. by the people directly affected. • In her interview, Yayi Bayam Diouf relates the lack of economic opportunity in her fishing region and her group’s activities to keep young men and women from leaving the country. 6 DOSSIER Border Politics – Migration in the Mediterranean Charlotte Wiedemann Mythen der Migration "Menschlichkeit ist der wichtigste Eckstein modernen europäischen Grenzmanagements." Frontex General Report 2008 Es war Nacht in