The change of government has once again stirred up the debate on migration policy in Italy, with messages that are reminiscent of the first period of the ultra-right in power and that once again put on the table different ways of dealing with a drama that this year alone has seen more than 88,000 arrivals on Italian shores and more than 1,300 dead or missing.
The main arguments of the new Italian Executive, headed by Giorgia Meloni, revolve around the alleged lack of European solidarity and suspicions about the activities of NGOs, which the authorities continue to accuse of encouraging migration by deploying rescue ships in the central Mediterranean area.
The Italian Interior Ministry has denounced on Monday that, so far this year, some 88,100 people have already arrived on the coasts, more than the 55,794 recorded in the whole of 2021 and the 30,416 of 2020, years however where there was a general decline in migrations due to the restrictions on mobility applied worldwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Government, more than 2,800 migrants disembarked in November alone.
By nationality, Egyptians, Tunisians, Bangladeshis, Syrians and Afghans top the list, while the number of unaccompanied minors is now close to 10,000 – at least 9,930 as of October 31, according to official data.
NGOs and UN agencies, meanwhile, emphasize the other side of the coin, that of those seeking protection in southern Europe after a long journey that has as its penultimate stop Libya, a country marked by conflict for more than a decade and where all kinds of abuses of migrants and refugees have been noted.
Human Rights organizations insist that Libya can in no way be considered a safe port to authorize refoulements, but in early October the number of landings in the North African country already exceeded 16,600, all of them the work of a Coast Guard also questioned for its repressive practices.
The figure, collected by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), is in addition to those who lose their lives trying to make the final leap to Europe. Since 2014, more than 25,000 migrants have perished in the Mediterranean, including almost 20,200 in the central area, the one connecting to Italy.
This year alone, 1,337 migrants and refugees have died in this part of the Mediterranean, so it is not ruled out that the figure of 1,567 victims corresponding to 2021, which was the deadliest year since 2017, will be reached. The worst recent year in terms of victims was 2016, with 4,574, although the UN has warned that it is not aware of all cases and these are statistical approximations.
More complicated, if anything, is establishing how many people lose their lives along the way, even on African soil. In the whole of North Africa, the IOM has registered 527 deaths so far this year and, of these, 88 correspond to the Sahara desert, although in such inhospitable areas many die without a trace.
