The European Commission has committed an additional €90.5m to three migration and border management projects in northern Africa.
The announcement forms part of the EU’s ongoing and long-term efforts to address the root causes of irregular migration, to limit the numbers of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants attempting to enter Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. The three new African migration and border management projects will increase the EU’s support for this effort.
What new projects will receive funding?
The three programmes which have been allocated a joint €90.5m will offer a holistic approach by addressing a number of challenges at once. €55m has been approved for a project to support maritime border management by national authorities in Morocco and Tunisia. The project aims to save the lives of migrants at sea, and combat the operations of smugglers in the area.
In Libya, a €29m programme will be implemented in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and will increase the protection of migrants at disembarkation points in Libya. Further, it will develop economic opportunities for migrants in Libya’s domestic market alongside the country’s authorities.
The final project, which is to receive €6.5m, will facilitate access to basic services for vulnerable migrants by improving the capacity of local civil society organisations to deliver such services. The EU has already allocated more than €3bn to 164 programmes addressing the challenges of migration.
How will these African migration and border management projects support the EU’s goals?
European Commission High Representative Federica Mogherini emphasised the EU’s ongoing commitment to tackling the challenges of migration. She emphasised that collaboration is vital to this effort, and that the new projects would facilitate exactly the kind of progress the EU aims to achieve.
She explained: “Today’s new programmes will step up our work to managing migration flows in a humane and sustainable way, by saving and protecting lives of refugees and migrants and providing them with assistance and by fighting against traffickers and smugglers. It is our integrated approach that combines our action at sea, our work together with partner countries along the migratory routes, including inside Libya, and in the Sahel.”
