Europe鈥檚 migrant crisis: Boy in a suitcase smuggled into Spain
In a smuggling attempt undone, an 8-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast spent hours curled up inside a suitcase before Spanish authorities discovered him Thursday.
Officials suspect that the boy鈥檚 father, Abou, paid a young woman to cross into Spain via Morocco with the child, . Abou lives in the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory, and had hoped to reunite with his son. He and the woman have since been sent to a preventive prison on charges of violating the rights of foreign citizens and putting a child鈥檚 life at risk.
The incident is the latest symbol of Europe鈥檚 increasingly urgent migrant crisis, as thousands of families from Africa and the Middle East risk their lives over land and sea to flee violence, oppressive regimes, and poverty at home. Abou鈥檚 desperate attempt also draws attention to the debate around solutions, as European Union leaders struggle to determine the best approach to stem the migrant tide.
As of this month, nearly 63,500 migrants have arrived in Europe, most of them from Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria, and Afghanistan, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Nearly 2,000 have died in the journey 鈥� more than four times the number of fatalities from the same period last year.
鈥淭his is unacceptable,鈥� Federico Soda, director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, , when migrant deaths by sea peaked to more than 1,200. 鈥淭his is a humanitarian emergency that involves us all.鈥�
The surge in migrant fatalities has led the EU to both beef up resources for its search-and-rescue operation 鈥淭riton,鈥� which launched a little over six months ago, and to consider dealing with the problem at its source.
At an emergency summit in Brussels last month, EU leaders decided , with member states pledging aircraft and boats to aid in operations, according to Reuters. 聽
They also announced plans to take military action against smuggling networks in Libya, 鈥渨here people smugglers operate with impunity amid the country's civil chaos,鈥� 海角大神鈥檚 Sara Miller Llana reported. Member states would focus on efforts to trace smugglers鈥� sources of funding, and in the Mediterranean.
Critics, however, noted that the plan lacked attention to migrants鈥� plights in their home countries.
鈥淭here is no military solution to the human tragedy playing out in the Mediterranean,鈥� United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon . 鈥淚t is crucial that we take a holistic approach that looks at the root causes, at security and the human rights of migrants and refugees, and have legal and regulated immigration networks.鈥�
Such an approach would involve an overhaul of the EU鈥檚 present asylum system, in which some countries take on a far larger share than others of incoming refugees and asylum-seekers 鈥� a situation that exacerbates tensions within those countries as locals perceive a clash between their own interests and the influx of migrants into their communities.
鈥淭he European asylum system doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� Germany鈥檚 immigration commissioner, Aydan 脰zoguz, who has received death threats for her advocacy of refugee rights, . 鈥淪ome countries are doing very little. We are one of the richest countries and we want to help, but it鈥檚 not okay that Germany, Sweden and France are taking 50 percent of the refugees while other countries do nothing.鈥�
The problem is that asylum systems in many European countries operate below international standards, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). And although nearly half of 48 countries in the region participate to some degree in the UNHCR鈥檚 resettlement efforts, 鈥渢he number of resettlement places in the region remains limited, with quotas and reception and integration capacity varying widely,鈥� . 聽
Some experts argue that giving migrants more and better paths to legal European citizenship is the best way to go. , Fran莽ois Cr茅peau, the UN鈥檚 special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, urged western countries to coordinate efforts to resettle refugees and advocated for acceptance instead of fear of the changes that migrants bring.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a much better system for everyone 鈥� you reduce the number of deaths, you reduce the smuggling business model, and you reduce the cost of asylum claims,鈥� he told The Guardian. 鈥淟et鈥檚 not be afraid of mobility. If we develop, regulate, organize mobility we will have, in the long run, much better results.鈥�
Mr. Cr茅peau鈥檚 stance is in line with the UN鈥檚 as well as other organizations, such as Medicins San Frontieres, calling for solutions that place human rights at the forefront.
: 鈥淲hat demands a response is not just the smuggling itself, but the conditions that would lead a parent to have his child stuffed in a suitcase, for a dangerous crossing to a place far from home.鈥�
