Refugee and Forced Migrant Crisis: A European Problem

Abstract

The increase in migratory flows through the corridor between North Africa and Europe triggered the so-called 'Mediterranean refugee crisis'. Precarious boats carrying migrants in transit and with them, the news that thousands were dying at sea, fleeing war and famine, in their attempt to reach 'Fortress Europe'. The European Union's response has been fluctuating between control and rights as part of its approach to migration management, translated into legal and discursive frameworks where both views appear: on the one hand, it declares war on people smugglers, and on the other, it imposes security and control practices and regimes that use fear as a pretext to stigmatize migrants, Once again, it forgets that these migrations - a consequence of the great existing inequalities, largely caused by its own policies - are a European problem. In this paper we will argue that the migration crisis is a European problem for: a) historical reasons: European countries were a source of massive emigration to America, Africa, Asia and Oceania as they conquered and colonized; b) political-social reasons: migration, as a 'disposable labor' force, is intertwined with colonial and imperial histories between regions where racial, gender and class categories were established and are still in place; and c) legal: starting with the three pillars of the European Union in the post-Maastricht era, through the intermediate phase of the post-Amsterdam era and also through the use of international agreements, such as the Schengen Convention of 1985 and the Dublin Treaty of 1990.