Friday, June 09, 2006

80,000 People Wait on the African Coast

Well, so much for toning down the coverage, because today, almost all the local newspaper websites lead with the impacting headline that there are 80,000 people waiting on the African coasts, hoping to get on a boat to Europe.

The European Parliament delegation, which is currently visiting the immigrant retention centers in Tenerife and Fuerteventura, pointed out the necessity that the European Union tackle the immigration phenomenon from a common policy and with corresponding development in Africa. Calling for solidarity, they affirmed that no country could face this migratory flow alone.

Some 50,000 of the hopefuls are waiting in Mauritania, 20,000 in Senegal and the rest in neighbouring countries, which, although the Frontex program aims to prevent these people from departing and perishing in the attempt, the delegation says that "it is impossible to create a barrier that cannot be crossed".

Meanwhile, Archipelago Noticias carry a report by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, in which, speaking of migration, he says, "These aspirations have always been the motor of human progress. Historically, migration has improved the well-being, not only of migrants as individuals, but also of all of humanity." Having migrated myself, I can certainly vouch for the first part. Hopefully, I will be able to find the English version of this.

And, Peter Sutherland comments in the Straits Times, "YOU might think, seeing the headlines these days, that migration is some kind of scourge. The talk is of walls and navies to keep immigrants out. It is enough to make you forget that the nurse who tends your mother hails from Ghana, that the cook who prepares your dinner is from China, and that the inventor of your favorite search engine was once a seven-year-old refugee fleeing a totalitarian state. In this pitched climate, a United Nations report on international migration and development issued this week should help bring the debate to a more even keel."

Hay 80.000 personas en las costas africanas esperando para embarcar