Introduction
Northern Africa and Sub Saharan Africa are two of the most politically troubled places on earth. Over the years the region has seen different ethnical or religious groups fighting with each other for political power. These internal fights created a state of panic and chaos in all those North African nations, accounting for the deaths of thousands of people every year. Apart from political problem the region is plagued with a lot of other social and economic problem. In order to get rid of the abject poverty and unemployment, thousands of Africans make attempts to escape to European or North American nations illegally in pursuit of a better life. Spain being one of the closest countries to North Africa gets infiltrated by maximum number of illegal immigrants every year. Thousands of migrants in a bid to reach Spain risk their lives to cross the perilous 20 kilometers long Straits of Gibraltar, many of them spending about 1000 euros per person for an inflatable raft (Lee 2004). Every year thousands of immigrants die while trying to enter Spain but still the craze for immigration remains unabated. There are many reasons for the huge immigration from North African nations to Spain and other European countries. This essay will discuss about the causes of immigration and how the dreams of immigrants get shattered in the face of crude reality.
Reasons for Migration
Most of the African nations are financially poor without the basic infrastructure for human development. Education, roads, jobs are nonexistent in some part of the continent. However, the whole continent is rich in natural resources and this makes few powerful groups dominate over the rest of the population. There are terrorist groups controlling gold mines and diamond mines. These groups forcefully enslave the general population to work in those mines without giving any money and very little food. The mine workers are often at a very precarious condition. Their lives remain at the mercy of their employers who kill them if they try to escape. In some part of the region women are brutally raped and forced into prostitution business by the terrorist group that rules over the territory. Most of the children do not even see a full year in school and are forced into physical labor from a very early age. North African and Sub-Saharan regions are the most disturbed places in the entire world. Clashes between different ethnic groups are frequently common. Caught in the fight between two different terrorist groups, general people often get killed. Because of unprotected sex and widespread prostitution racket run by some of the terrorist groups the whole area has a high level of HIV infected people. Almost 2.9% of the whole population is suffering from HIV with no medical facility available (BBC News 2007). Food is uncertain, shelter is often taken away by power mongers and basic amenities like education and medical facilities are non-existent. On the other hand, due to colonization people of North African and Sub-Saharan regions have seen the lavish lifestyle led by the colonial forefathers. Currently through television, newspaper and internet they get to know about the far superior lifestyle in mainland Europe and North America. This stark disparity in terms of social and economic parameters creates an attraction for Europe for the African people. Europe is not far from Africa and so they begin to think that if somehow they can reach Europe, they will not only get away from all the troubles of their homeland but will also get to live a life they always dream of. This huge difference in the standard of living begets a dream in the minds of many Africans who become desperate to migrate to Europe by any means and start a new life there.
The Route of Escape
Maximum numbers of migrants to mainland Europe come from Northern Africa and Sub Saharan Africa. For almost all of the migrants the first destination is to reach the North African ports or places from where they can start their journey towards Europe. People who plan to enter Spain generally start from west coast of Africa. Northern Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco are their starting points. Most of them try to reach Canary Islands from there or cross Gibraltar to reach Ceuta and Melilla (BBC News 2007). The more daring ones try to cross the Straits of Gibraltar directly to reach the mainland Spain. Italy is another destination where a lot of Northern African migrants escape to. Those people start from Tunisia or Libya and cross Mediterranean to reach Italy.
The Journey towards Dream Destination
The journey starts from the actual decision making process. As soon as a person decides that he wants to migrate to Europe and there is no legal way he can migrate then the search for other means starts. This leads to meeting mafia-racketeers who run the illegal business of human trafficking. These mafia rackets are very efficient in deporting people illegally to Europe. However, just like any other illegal means, this mode too is full of risks often involving a dangerous and treacherous journey. People trying to migrate from Central-Sahara first travel to Agadez. Agadez is one of the key starting points for the migration journey. The migrants first need to pay a fee to the mafia racket for helping them out to migrate. Throughout the journey from Agadez or Gao to the seashores of Algeria or Tunisia or Western Sahara the migrants are handed over from one group to another (BBC News 2007). While crossing different national borders they encounter the police and guerillas. In the ensuing fights between the mafia group and the guerillas some people die. While transporting people from one place to another the mafia follows the most treacherous routes available. Consequently the migrants don’t get to eat for days on end and have to live on with very little water. Some die during the course of this tortuous journey. Many a time the mafia group which helps the migrants reach the seashore of Northern Africa gets defeated by an opposite rebel or guerilla groups. In such cases the migrants are enslaved and used by the winning rebel groups to do the same labor they were trying to escape from. Their dream dies a premature death. Women often are raped multiple times during the course of the journey and many a time never see the ultimate goal. Many women are forced into different prostitution houses or sold to some other terrorist groups. Some of them who are lucky make it to the shores of Northern Africa. People who want to enter Europe through Spain either reach Western Sahara or Western Morocco seashores. There are agents who take almost $1000 per person for the journey from the seashore to the entry point in Spain which is often Canary Islands (Human Rights Report). Once the payment is done then they are loaded into very small fisherman boats and set sail in the high seas in those small boats. On many occasions if there is a sea storm then the whole boat capsizes killing all the passengers on board and nobody even comes to know about the incident as the whole process is operated under cover. If the migrants are lucky then they successfully cross over the treacherous 20 kilometer sea voyage to Canary Island from Morocco (Westbrook). In some cases the human trafficker tells the people to abandon the boat and swim the last kilometer to the shores of Spain. In high seas many cannot tackle the waves and die while some make it to the shore but get captured by the police. Some lucky ones get to the shore unnoticed. This completes the journey from home to their dream land.
The Harsh Reality
Every year more than 7000 people illegally enter Spain from different Northern African countries. The number is not confirmed by any agency as often the estimation comes from different secondary sources. Many believe that the actual number may be as high as 20,000 per year (Arango 2013). If someone is caught by the Foretex guards while crossing the seas then they are immediately deported back to the country of origin. If someone is caught while inside the Spanish territory then they are first kept in a prison like cell for days and often months before being deported back or provided asylum. Even after being provided with an asylum the migrants are kept within a restricted facility under the supervision of the state. They are not allowed to work till further approvals and that process often takes years. Even after entering their dream country and receiving a political asylum the migrants continue to live life like a prisoner in Spain. Many of those who came to Spain as migrants had a better life back home than they live in Spain as refugees. In some cases after staying in Spain for few years as refugee their permanent residency application from asylum status gets rejected and they are deported back to their home country. The dream of working, earning money, living a life of security and then finally able to support the family back home gets shattered in no time for many. Some of the migrants who are lucky enter the country unnoticed but they cannot do any job as they are illegal in the country and most of the good jobs need legal work authorization papers for recruitment. Although the migrants are lucky in some sense that they could sneak into Spain unnoticed but on the other hand they often remain jobless, homeless and penniless. These migrants spend nights at open street corners and train stations. Few lucky ones get low pay cash based jobs but they always remain in the fear of getting caught and deported back and hence they forcefully live a low life and low paying jobs. However, the story is not bad for all the migrants. Very few who get their political asylum application accepted are allowed to stay in the country and allowed to do jobs and study with some restriction. Even then because of the lack of education they end up doing low wage jobs and live a life not much better than the life at home. However, some of them do very well and establish themselves well in the foreign country. They start earning enough money to finally live their dream life and even support their family back home. Some of the illegal immigrants who were able to sneak into Spain and started a life of struggle sometime got lucky by being adapted in Spain through naturalization/regularization process after surviving in the country for 5-10 years.
The Numbers
Spain always has seen large number of immigrants coming to the country from all over the world. It has only 0.6% of the total population as non-Spanish in 1981 but it increased to almost 14% by 2011. In the early years of this century, especially between 2000 and 2006, the illegal immigrants from Northern Africa to Spain increased considerably. Almost 20,000 illegal immigrants were entering Spain through Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. Especially Spain saw a large number of pregnant women trying to enter the country during that time. It deported almost 7000 girls aged between 14 and 35 only in 2004. The number of illegal immigrants trying to enter Spain through the sea route skyrocketed in 2006. The number of illegal immigrants captured and deported back in 2006 was almost 32,000. This caused the Spanish government and the EU strengthening the border security with more stringent immigration and asylum laws. Now almost none of the Northern African countries are provided asylum status in Spain. If anyone from those countries is found illegally entering Spain, he or she is deported immediately back to the country of origin. The sea border patrolling is now strengthened along the Gibraltar. Also the security in and around Canary Island which is the first point of entry from Western Sahara is now beefed up. The number of illegal immigrants has dropped since 2006. In 2011 only around 4,400 illegal immigrants were found trying to enter Spain through sea route down from 32,000 in 2006 (Arango 2013). Chances of successfully entering Spain are now reduced hugely with better patrolling and increased sea security process. The overall journey to pursue a dream which is unattainable is reducing the number of people trying illegal means to enter Spain.
Conclusion
People in Northern and Sub Saharan Africa are living a life amidst poverty and fear. It is a life none of us wants. Constant threat of violence, uncertainty of life, poor infrastructure and unemployment is creating a social and economic environment which is almost unlivable. This is forcing the inhabitants to go away from their homeland to someplace else where they can live better life. Many people think that any place outside of where they are currently living will provide better life for them. Europe on the other hand has ruled the world for centuries. Centuries of development and progression has made the continent more developed than most others. Europeans live a lifestyle that is a dream for most of the North African people. This stark contrast in situation forces them to take desperate measures to leave their homeland and try to go to Europe to chase their dream of a better life. In this process migrants spend a lot of money, endure lot of pain and face lots of risks just to get into a boat which will take them to their dream destination. In most of the cases their dream is crashed even before they can reach the North African seashore. In many other cases, they get caught on the way and deported back to their home country. If by any chance they reach Spain, they face many years of hardship before even settling down to a decent lifestyle. For illegal immigrants in a foreign land, dreams shatter with every passing year of hardship in Spain. They only live a life of fear and agony. The decision to escape Northern Africa often is taken out of desperation and that costs them their whole life. The dream of European life is actually achieved by a select few, rest either end up getting into a more treacherous life or come back to square one.
Work Cited
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Westbrook, Rebecca. Immigration and Crime in Catalonia, Spain: What’s the Connection? Towards a Theory on Immigrant Crime. Claremont University. Web. 5 Aug 2013 <http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=urceu>
Arango, Joaquin. Exceptional in Europe? Spain's Experience with Immigration and Integration. Migration Policy Institute. March 2013. Web. 5 Aug 2013 <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/TCM-Spaincasestudy.pdf>
Key facts: Africa to Europe Migration. BBC News. 2 July 2007. Web. 5 Aug 2013 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6228236.stm>
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