MIGRAŢIA IREGULARĂ ŞI PROVOCAREA UNIUNII EUROPENE: UN STUDIU DE CAZ AL MIGRANŢILOR DINSPRE LIBIA SPRE ITALIA
IRREGULAR MIGRATION AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: A CASE STUDY OF MIGRANTS FROM LIBYA TO ITALY

Summary/Abstract: The migration of a large number of African citizens to different European nations via the Libyan-Mediterranean route continues to represent a recurrent issue between Africa and Europe within the recent couple of decades, as the volume of migrants continue to grow consistently. This high rate of migration of African citizens to Europe in most cases create negative consequences on a number of these European countries, especially in the areas of their economic, social and political wellbeing. In certain other cases, the security of these European nations is also influenced by these rates of migration. In lieu of the above, this study focused on Italy in particular, as well as other African nations and investigated if Italy was considered a target country for migration or considered a transit country into other European countries by African migrants. It also examined the reasons that influenced African migrants to go through the Libya-Italian route into Europe and lastly, determined the human trafficking mechanisms in the Libya-Italian route into Europe. The theoretical frameworks on which this study was predicated were the Push factors and the Pull factors that influenced migration to other nations. Furthermore, this study was designed as a qualitative research and employed structured face-to-face interviews that were mediated through Skype video calls to collect responses from the 20 interviewees selected for this research. The study discovered that Italy is predominantly viewed as a sought after destination country by many African migrants and not merely a transit nation into other parts of Europe. This study also discovered that the major motivations that compelled Africans to migrate into Europe via the Libya-Italy route are extreme poverty, and the closure of the other routes into Europe, such as the Morocco/Tunisia route. Lastly, the study also discovered that there exists high degree of synergy in the activities of the various bodies involved in the various stages of travel in the Libya-Italy route, as there existed seamless transition from one agency to another in the different stages of migrants journey to Europe via this Libya/Italy route. On a final note, this study’s recommendation among many others is that the governments of Libya and Europe should facilitate mechanisms that welcome migrants or refugees in line with the common objective of allowing personal independence and freedom from poverty.

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