Policing the EU's Mediterranean borders : the human security implications

Abstract

Irregular migration across the Mediterranean has come to be seen as a growing problem in many European countries, in particular those bordering the Mediterranean Sea. On the one hand, illegal immigration into the EU is increasingly viewed as a security challenge to European states and societies, as a threat to domestic welfare systems, internal stability and national identities (Waever et al., 1993; Huysmans, 2000; Eigo, 2000). On the other hand, there has also been a growing concern with the "humanitarian tragedy" which is unfolding in the Mediterranean almost on a daily basis. The images of destitute migrants desperately seeking to reach Europe in unseaworthy and totally overloaded boats, and of dead bodies washed unto Italy or Spain's beaches, have become too common for comfort. It is estimated that, over the last decade, at least 10,000 would-be immigrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from south to north (ICMPD, 2004: 8).