The ‘three absences’ of black Africans in European migration debates

ABSTRACT

This paper suggests that current policies for the management of migration across the Central Mediterranean route aim more at the physical and metaphysical removal of black African migrants from the public sphere, than at dealing with structural factors. Such process, that the author names ‘absence policy’; is explored in three crucial stages of present migration dynamics: Libya, the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. The author argues that absence is instrumental to claim that migration flows can be and are managed, but in reality, it subsumes only a politics of containment of migration that creates concern for the protection of the migrants’ human rights.

KEYWORDS:

• Mediterranean
• migration
• absence
• NGOs
• Libya
• Italy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Although many more migrants are estimated to have transited through Italy without fingerprinting to lodge their asylum application in central and northern Europe.

2. These are the Presidency Council (PC), headed by Fayez al-Sarraj; the Government of National Salvation headed by Prime Minister Khalifa Ghwell; and the Tobruk and Bayda authorities.

3. See: http://www.interno.gov.it/sites/default/files/direttiva_ministro_su_controllo_frontiere_marittime_18.03.2019.pdf.

4. See: https://italy.iom.int/it/notizie/oim-libia-ancora-difficile-garantire-una-protezione-adeguata-ai-migranti?fbclid=IwAR3BOW_KunlqJzh8jh90umXAregaGnUoEr3gOATrNG0Pkf4TIiomgNe02Co.

5. Description from the official website: https://www.operationsophia.eu/

6. In the night between 14 and 15 August 2018, the Diciotti rescued 190 migrants in the SAR area of Malta. For five days the ship remained off Lampedusa, while minister Salvini discussed the redistribution of migrants with Malta and other EU countries, threatening to hand them over to Libya.

7. It can be accessed here: https://www.unhcr.it/news/osservazioni-unhcr-sul-decreto-legge-materia-protezione-internazionale-immigrazione-sicurezza-pubblica.html.

8. Reported in: https://www.marsad.ly/en/2019/04/02/libyan-navy-warns-ngos-vessels-not-sail-territorial-waters/.