Western media has reported about a humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean sea near Italian shores where three ships carrying nearly 1,000 rescued migrants are sounding an alarm about deteriorating conditions, but Italy’s far-right government has not responded to requests for a safe port.
Europe is facing a quirky problem of illegal migration from Africa, Asia, and Latin America through sea routes where the boats operated by Humanitarian groups carrying migrants used to disembark unprecedented numbers of people on their shores, and the governments across Europe are compelled to take care of those illegal migrants on humanitarian grounds, permit them residence or provide transit facilities toward other destinations. According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), EU Countries received 406000 asylum applications during the first half of 2022 which is 68% up as compared to the same period last year. According to reports, massive illegal immigration has put the worst effects on regular/legal migration and also prompted anti-migrant sentiments in the host governments and masses in Europe, America, Australia, and other top destinations.
Currently, nationalist movements are taking a surge in western nations and white supremacists are the worst foe of migrants and people of color in their country. European governments including France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain, Greece, and the Netherlands are gradually tightening their immigration regimes and restricting regular as well as irregular settlements in their countries. The statistics show that Europe collectively returned over 61,000 non-citizens to their countries during the second quarter of 2022, these figures are increasing every single day.
During the current migrants’ crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, humanitarian groups are continuously issuing SOS requests to the nearest countries including Italy, German,y, Malta, and Greece for permission to dock their boats at their ports to avoid an impending disaster in the sea but no country has responded positively so far. The newly elected far-right Italian government of Giorgia Meloni has set the groundwork to ban humanitarian ships from Italian ports while appealing to countries whose flags the rescue ships fly to relieve the burden on Italy by accepting the rescued passengers.
Over the decades, the west took a U-turn in its politics, trade, and economic policies as well as human rights and social norms. The advocates of a free- market, open borders and open societies, free expression, and equal human rights are gradually reversing their doctrines by putting a curb on immigration, erecting barriers of tariffs on trade, announcing bans on travel, ignoring the voices of humanitarian groups and abusing basic rights of their minorities. Historically, the rise of Trumpism in America, the success of Meloni in Italy, and the revival of Euroscepticism in Hungary are not isolated events but nationalists across Europe and North America are closely tight to each other and fully coordinated.
According to critics, the west restricted the fruits of development to itself, colonized Asia and Africa as markets, and projected a flashy western civilization that is now collapsing under its own weight. If the west intends to get rid of the current immigration influx it must resolve disputes on other continents and export peace and prosperity, so desperate people live on their own land instead of wandering in exile.
