Migrants Searching for Economic Opportunities: A Historical Perspective - Essay Sample

Introduction

All through history, people have migrated from one place to another and reach the European shores because of different reasons. A migrant is an individual who makes a mindful decision of leaving his/her country to search for economic opportunities. Before living in their countries, they start by investigating their new place. They can go back to their home country if things fail to work the way they had anticipated (Dinan, Neill, and William 111). Refugees move away from their homelands by force due to lack of safety or going through persecution. Refugees are concerned with safety and human rights. They often leave all their belongings, friends, and relatives because they flee without warning. In most cases, refugees suffer psychological trauma, torture, and ill-treatment. Many refugees risk themselves when searching for protection, and they cannot go back to their homes except if the reasons that made them flee advances. They often risk their lives escaping from oppression, poverty, war, and look for education, peace, and entrepreneurship benefits (Dinan, Neill, and William 112).

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Causes

Europe migrant crisis was caused by the increased number of refugees migrating to Europe from unstable and unsafe countries. Europe received a significant number of migrants in 2015 and 2016 more than it had ever received before. In 2015, the number of irregular immigrants who entered in Europe was 1.8 million people (Estevens 28). Since 1992, European had not experienced such a drastic increase of the migrants and refugees, and that is why the migration was referred to as a crisis. Europe receives a high number of migrants because of its richness in resources, safety, and easily accessed from Africa and the Middle East through Greece and Italy due to closeness to the Mediterranean Basin (Park 313).

The endless war in Afghanistan and Iraq have significantly contributed to an influx in immigrants, moreover, conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, and Nigeria regarding the progression of the so-called Arab springs in Africa. The number of immigrants surged in 2015 when immigrants were arriving EU were crossing through the Mediterranean Sea or the South-east of Europe. A significant number did not only comprise of the asylum seekers, but there were also economic migrants and other Islamic state agents who posed as migrants. One of the primary causes of migration to Europe is the political turmoil as well as stability in the home countries of the immigrants (Krsteska 56).

The political stability in the Middle East, Africa, and Southern Asia have significantly contributed to the change in immigrants statistics in Europe. The primary factor affecting Arab countries who make up a considerable portion of the immigrants is the Arab spring that resulted in instability, mainly in the Middle East and Africa. The onset of instability disrupts the economic and political status of the countries hence affecting the livelihoods on numerous people who often strive to move to the European Union for a more peaceful environment away from the chaos in their homeland. However, this does not detail the essence of all the primary causes of the upsurge of migration Crisis in the European Union.

Conversely, Kancs & Patrizio (101) points out that since 2014, about 250,000 Syrians died as a result of war caused by the Assad regime, but the West has been reluctant to intervene; hence, more than half of the county's population were forced to leave their homeland. Since the commencement of the Syrian war in 2011, more than 4 million Syrians opted to move to other countries while over 7.6 Million were forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in other parts of Syria (Pejanovic 82). Often, the refugee flew to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Jordan, but a significant percentage currently move to Europe. Moreover, the developing countries that are hosting a considerable number of refugees from the Middle East are reaching a breaking point. Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan are hosting more than 3Million refugees while there are deficits in humanitarian funding. Therefore, many of the refugees would attempt a dangerous journey to the European Union than opt to stay in impoverished and overpopulated refugee camps.

Consequences

In its current state, the European migration crisis is threatening the survival of the European Union. A classic example is Germany that has been regarded as welcoming, strong, and more caring, which positively impacted the European Union countries. Nonetheless, this pressures housing facilities, education, reducing employment opportunities that can magnify to worse scenarios. Many people have lost their lives in the Mediterranean while trying to migrate to Europe. Since the starting of 2017, more than two thousand people have disappeared in the Mediterranean by perishing on the route. Mainly, deaths are caused by the sinking of the boats carrying the migrants due to the strong winds. The migrants put themselves at risk due to the insufficient means of transportation, and the migration process is not regulation. The illegal migrants suffer various kinds of abuse like being forced to move out of Europe Crawley, (Crawley et al. 21).

Government Reaction

Europe blames the smugglers for the risks, but migrant advocates state that migrants will not stop using the risky illegal routes so long as the legal routes are limited. To reduce the migration crisis, the European government has increased the financial support for the border patrol tasks within the Mediterranean, devised strategies of fighting migrant trafficking, launched Operation Sophia and proposed a different quota structure for relocating asylum seekers to ease the burden on the neighboring nations, and settled asylum seekers with the determination of becoming genuine refugees. To stop human traffickers, governments should prevent the boats from leaving their home countries. Countries like the United States take very few migrants as a way to stop migration. However, if the aim is stopping migration, creating peace between Iraq and Syria is necessary (Panebianco 443).

The European Union has developed various strategies for addressing irregular migration. The strategies include the development of institutions and foreign policy methods. The European Union has tried to improve the asylum policy to spread asylum seekers across European Union member nations and manage reception methods. The EU had challenges in agreeing on standard asylum policy; hence, every EU nation has used different methods to accept asylum seekers and use various ways to make asylum decisions (Metcalfe-Hough 14). Most of the migrants who are not offered asylum do not go back to their home countries because they lack the means and they add to the unidentified number of people living in Europe with no legal rights and status.

The European Union has challenges in dealing with the unknown population due to political issues when they try to expel them. European Union provides budgetary support to the member states to care for the migrants. The finance is used in integrating the refugees, evaluating the sources of migration, and creating jobs for the asylum. The other reactions include the collaboration of EU with 3rd nations to alleviate transit routes and strengthening European Union external borders. The migrants who flew from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for asylum seeking or business opportunities used eight main routes along the Mediterranean. Migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria flew because of war, and they crossed to Europe through the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece. The Mediterranean Sea is dangerous because of the winds in the open sea, and over sixteen thousand people died since 2016 while crossing over the sea using boats (Kelly 98).

There was tension existing between member states of the European Union. Different states had different attitudes concerning migrants. Some nations were willing to develop border control measures while others allowed the migrants to enter their countries. So, though there is an evolving trend on the part of the EU to create a coherent policy concerning the migration crisis, a countervailing trend is also present on the part of at least some single nations to solve the matter as a national and not a European concern.

Outcomes

The number of irregular migrants dropped from 1.8 million to 104000 thousand people between 2015 and 2018. Nevertheless, the strategy has not thoroughly addressed the European Union migration problems in the future. The challenges include poor incorporation of new migrants into Europe and its labor markets, increased criticism concerning the complex abuse of human rights, and the enduring migratory pressures from the Middle East and Africa. Additionally, the European Union actions caused a substantial decrease in new irregular migrants. The European governments have been able to tackle the leading causes of the irregular migration by fighting against smuggling activities, providing vital support to the vulnerable individuals after returning to their home countries, and signing agreements that discourage migration with other countries. Europe has also developed strong border management, protecting individuals that require international protection and integrating legal migration (Perkowski 334).

Works Cited

Crawley, Heaven, et al. "Destination Europe?: Understanding the dynamics and drivers of Mediterranean migration in 2015." (2016). http://www.medmig.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/research-brief-destination-europe.pdf

Dinan, Desmond, Neill Nugent, and William E. Paterson. The European Union in Crisis. Macmillan International Higher Education, 2017: 100-130. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-60427-9_6

Estevens, Joao. "Migration crisis in the EU: developing a framework for the analysis of national security and defense strategies." Comparative migration studies 6.1 (2018): 28.

Kancs, d'Artis, and Patrizio Lecca. "Longterm social, economic, and fiscal effects of immigration into the EU: The role of the integration policy." The World Economy 41.10 (2018): 99-102.

Kelly, Tim. "The Growing Crisis and The Response of The Government." The British Computer Industry, 2018, pp. 74-107., doi:10.4324/9781351204392-4.

Krsteska, Ms. Anita. "The European Union And The Migrant And Refugee Crisis In Europe." The International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention, 2015, pp. 45-86. doi:10.18535/ijsshi/v2i12.01.

Metcalfe-Hough, Victoria. "The migration crisis? Facts, challenges, and possible solutions." Taken from https://www. odi. org/sites/odi. org. uk/files/odi-assets/publicationsopinion-files/9913. pdf on 14 (2015): 2016.

Panebianco, Stefania. "The Mediterranean migration crisis: border control versus humanitarian approaches." Global Affairs 2.4 (2016): 441-445. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2016.1278091

Park, Jeanne. "Europe's migration crisis." New York: Council of Foreign Relations (2015): 311-325.

Pejanovic, Ljubo. "Migration Causes and Refugee Crisis in the Balkans and Europe." Civitas (Novi Sad), vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 79-88., doi:10.5937/civitas1701079p.

Perkowski, Nina. "Deaths, interventions, humanitarianism, and human rights in the Mediterranean' Migration Crisis'." Mediterranean Politics 21.2 (2016): 331-335. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2016.1145827