Picture from the same article - 8/10/2013 ©Patrick Chappatte
The calls for stricter border controls, which are echoing throughout Europe, will increase rather than decrease the risk of tragedies such as the Lampedusa disaster, argues an immigration expert. That is why the EU should first reform its asylum policy.
The routes have become longer and more dangerous, forcing migrants to rely more heavily on human traffickers. For two decades, a fortune was invested in border controls and ever-more money pumped into Frontex (the European agency for the management of operational cooperation at the external borders), but that too, was unable to halt the migration.
