D. Parvaz, ThinkProgress

By D. Parvaz, ThinkProgress

28 July 18

The only thing the European Union has managed to do is prevent migrants from arriving to their shores alive.

espite the European Union’s efforts to keep migrants and refugees from reaching its shores, those running from war and strife continue to make the perilous trip across the Mediterranean. The only difference is that fewer are making it alive.

Horrific data released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday indicates that for the fifth year running, over 1,500 migrants have died at sea trying to reach Europe from Turkey and North Africa (mostly Libya).

“It’s important to note two things: one is that despite incredibly low numbers arriving to Italy, the per capita death or the rate of death per 1,000 people may be at its highest point since the emergency began,” said IOM spokesman Joel Millman at a media briefing in Geneva.

“It’s only once in the previous four years (that) this [1,500 deaths] mark has been reached later than this date in July and that was in 2014 when the emergency was really just starting,” he added.

So far this year, roughly 55,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Europe, less than half of the 111,753 recorded in the same period last year.

This is owing to several efforts on various fronts by both the E.U. and individual countries to cut or, in some cases, entirely eliminate the arrival of migrants from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea.

The European Union signed a deal with Turkey in March of 2016 to crack down on the number of asylum seekers heading to Greece.

While that move was seen as controversial by rights groups, it pales in comparison to what the E.U. did the following year: It entered a shady agreement with Libya’s militia groups to do whatever possible to keep migrants from crossing the Mediterranean — whether that be turning boats back, stopping migrants from leaving in the first place, or locking them up in one of their detention centers there (the deplorable conditions of which have been documented by Doctors Without Borders).

With pressure from member states such as Italy (where a new far-right government has prevented several humanitarian boats carrying rescued migrants, including women and children, to dock), Europe came up with a new migration policy in June.

But it’s not really much of a new policy in terms of providing migrants with any alternative other than either staying where they are and, in many cases, facing grave danger or embarking on the incredibly risky, irregular migration route that might get them to safety in Europe.

Instead, it calls for more tightening of borders and the building of what will essentially function as deportation centers in E.U. states that volunteer to have them.

The IOM is also tracking the shift in migration routes. With Italian and Greek routes becoming harder to reach, migrants and asylum seekers are now looking to reach Spain — by land or sea.

For instance, on Thursday, around 600 people entered Spain by cutting through a border fence between Spain and Morocco.

The IOM’s Millman also noted that West African migrants, specifically, have switched their routes, no longer going through Libya (where they are vulnerable, and, even sold in open slave markets), opting to take the far less deadly land route instead.