Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - MERGE - Migration and the Middle East

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Projects | MERGE - Migration and the Middle East | Regional Briefings | Central Mediterranean: The Most Dangerous Route for Asylums

Central Mediterranean: The Most Dangerous Route for Asylums

by Y. Emre Küçükkaya

511 asylums have died or gone missing across the central Mediterranean route since the beginning of 2022, the UN reports  The International Organization for Migration also reports that 4215 people have been intercepted at sea and returned to Libya. Deutsche Welle asks how the EU spent billions of euros to halt migration and what it has so far achieved.   

"So far, more than 317,000 people have been expelled from Turkey," said Turkey's interior minister. Turkey had a 40 percent deportation rate in 2020, compared to 18 percent in Europe. Currently, there are 25 repatriation centers in Turkey, and eight more are planned for the future," the minister added. However, Umit Ozdag's party is calling for the expulsion of more and more refugees in Turkey: "We must expel them to protect our homeland and to revive the economy. Turkey will no longer serve as a route for refugees from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to reach Europe. It will use its resources to ensure its citizens' wellbeing." Ozdag said in an interview. 

A similar type of discontent prevails in Lebanon where the government says it cannot continue to support Syrian refugees while 82 percent of the Lebanese suffer from multidimensional poverty. 

Russia's war in Ukraine is driving refugees in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan into further poverty. Among them are Palestinians who are also facing rising food and energy prices, exacerbating already dire conditions

Food insecurity in Lebanon and the potential ripple effects of the war in Ukraine is evident in a recent data brief published by MERGE in cooperation with TRANSMIT.

After almost a year of hardship due to the global pandemic, most Bangladeshi expatriates in the Middle East will celebrate Eid this year with much more vigor. 

 

 

 

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