Sea-Border Crossings: The Organization of Irregular Migration to Italy

Abstract

The arrival of rotting boats crowded with hundreds of individuals exhausted by a difficult crossing in wretched conditions is a powerful image too often seen in the Italian newspapers. In the majority of cases, the sea crossing is only a small part of a long and eventful journey. The cross-Mediterranean flow of migrants without papers originates on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but it includes migration from several continents. Many Mediterranean countries have become transit routes as the main objective of the sea journey is to cross the most protected border, that of the Schengen area. In these countries migrants become clients of illegal organizations: they pay for a service and subject themselves to rough treatment, with high risk for their personal safety. The article reconstructs the routes and the organization of the travels which irregularly cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy. Different migration flows and their evolution are presented: the case of short crossings from Albania at the beginning of the 1990s; the departures from Turkey, Syria and Lebanon at the end of the 1990s; the passage from the Suez Canal; the long-distance journeys from West Africa; and finally the landings in Lampedusa, from Libya, which is currently the most favoured route. Focus is placed on the organizations that run the illegal entry routes, and on the institutional reactions at play to stop these irregular movements, considering both the Italian and the international sides.

Acknowledgements

This article is a revised version of P. Monzini, Il traffico dei migranti per via marittima: il caso dell'Italia, in: F. Pastore, P. Monzini & G. Sciortino, L'Italia promessa, geopolitica e dinamiche organizzative del traffico dei migranti verso l'Italia, CeSPI Working Papers, 9. Available at http://www.cespi.it/PASTORE/Wp9-cnr.pdf, result of a study carried out for CeSPI, Rome.

Notes

¹ The main measures adopted in Italy to manage regular migration and reduce irregular migration have been introduced by the two legislative acts: Law No. 286/98 (Napoletano-Turco Actm 1998), and Law No. 189/2002 (Bossi Fini Act, 2002).

² See Camera dei Deputati 2005 for a detailed description of the main results of that policy. A list of the governmental agreements is available at http://itra.esteri.it/default1.asp.

³ Interview: SCO (Central Operational Services), State Police, Rome, 5 June 2003.

⁴ Out of a total of 46,481 immigrants apprehended, 22,418 of these boat people were caught at the Apulian borders in 1998, according to the Ministry of Interior, Immigration Service and Border Police, Department of Public Security, 2000.

⁵ Cf. Pastore (1998) for an analysis of the four different phases of the flow of migration from Albania. According to some estimates, at least 5–600,000 persons left the country between 1990 and 2000, representing 40 per cent of the population aged between 19 and 40 (ICMPD, 2000: 84).

⁶ Criminal Proceedings 1897/93 RGNR, Prosecution Office of the Lecce Court.

⁷ Cf. Criminal Proceedings 1887/93 RGNR, Prosecution Office of the Lecce Court and Criminal Proceedings 316/97 RGNR, Prosecution Office of the Lecce Court.

⁸ Data provided from Lecce Police Headquarters. In 2000 there were 13,793, in 2001 6,702, in 2002 3,067 and 64 in 2003.

⁹ Interview, Lecce Prosecution Service, 6 November 2003.

¹⁰ In rare cases, Albanian citizens living in Italy were used: cf. Criminal Proceeding 2008/97, Prosecution Office at the Lecce Court.

¹¹ Criminal Proceeding 3084/96, Prosecution Office at the Lecce Court, and DIA 1999.

¹² Interview: Lecce Police Headquarters, 30 June 2003.

¹³ Interviews, Lecce Prosecution Service, 6 November 2003 and Finance Police, 6 October 2003.

¹⁴ Interview: Magistrate of Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, 4 September 2006.

¹⁵ The case, and the authorities' indifference, are described in Bellu, 2005.

¹⁶ Three complex inquests have been examined in detail: Criminal Proceedings 4469/01 RGNR Lecce Court; Criminal Proceedings 4514/2000 RGNR Crotone Prosecution Service; Criminal Proceedings 3892/2000 RGNR, Reggio Calabria Court. The latter resulted in 54 detention orders being issued.

¹⁷ Interview: Lecce Police Headquarters, 30 June 2003.

¹⁸ Interview: SCO (Central Operational Services), State Police, Rome, 5 June 2003.

¹⁹ Between 2000 and 2003 the Finance Police alone arrested 14 Turkish citizens in Apulia and 52 in Calabria.

²⁰ Information from confidential source.

²¹ The port of Crotone became the final destination of 33 ships made of iron and wood, used for transporting passengers, between June 1997 and 24 January 2002. Keeping and eventually destroying these hulks creates problems for the port authorities.

²² Interview with a senator who has expertise in this area, 28 May 2003. Also Ciconte (2003: 160) hypothesizes that Calabrian clans allow the Turks traffickers to land in return for similar favours regarding drugs.

²³ Interview: Ragusa Prosecution Service, 22 July 2003.

²⁴ Interview: SCO (Central Operational Services), State Police, Rome, 5 June 2003.

²⁵ Interview: Agrigento Prosecution Office, 22 July 2003

²⁶ Interview: Finance Police, 6 October 2003.

²⁷ Interview: Finance Police, 6 October 2003, Interview: SCO (Central Operational Services), State Police, Rome, 5 June 2003.

²⁸ Cf., for example Criminal Proceedings 1990/2003 RGNR, Prosecution Office of the Agrigento Court.

²⁹ Viviano Bolzoni, ‘My time in the hands of the slave merchants’, la Repubblica, 12 June 2003: 3.

³⁰ Interview: SCO (Central Operational Services), State Police, Rome, 5 June 2003.

³¹ According to Fortress Europe, an on-line press review, 6,016 migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea since 1988; see http://fortresseurope.blogspot.com,