we “record nearly 40,000 arrivals in Europe from the southern shore of the Mediterranean” against “22,000 the previous year”, according to the OECD

“In the first quarter of 2023, we recorded nearly 40,000 arrivals in Europe from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, it was 22,000 the previous year”said Wednesday April 12 on franceinfo Jean-Christophe Dumont, head of the International Migrations division of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He was reacting to the fact that the first quarter of 2023 was the deadliest for migrants crossing the Mediterranean since 2017 with 441 lives lost trying to reach Europe, the UN estimated. “This situation is a long-term one and it requires even more cooperation with the countries of origin”believes Jean-Christophe Dumont.

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franceinfo: The deaths of migrants have been piling up since the start of the year. Is it because there are more and more departures from the African coast?

Jean-Christophe Dumont: In the first quarter of 2023, nearly 40,000 arrivals were recorded in Europe from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, compared to 22,000 the previous year. It is particularly from Tunisia to Italy that the increase is the strongest with a threefold increase in departures with people taking more and more risks. Normally it is not the months of January, February and March that are the most favorable for departures, but people try their luck at the risk of their lives. This situation is long-term and requires even more cooperation with the countries of origin on the root causes of these desperate departures.

Is this to be linked to a much stronger hostility than before towards these migrant populations in Tunisia?

Certainly the situation in Tunisia, including the economic outlook, plays a role in these increased departures from Sfax. I also think that migrants, especially those from sub-Saharan Africa, are well aware of the conditions under which they risk being treated in Libya and therefore they avoid this country as much as possible. All this takes place in a context where the demand for asylum in general is extremely strong and we had already obtained in 2022 record figures on this side. These asylum applications come from the Balkans.

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Is it linked to the situation in the Sahel in particular?

It’s hard to say, because when we look at the main nationalities over the last two years, the first is Tunisia, almost 22%, the second is Egypt and then we have Asian countries, we a Bangladesh, then Afghanistan, Syria. So we don’t see these countries of the Sahel appear very visibly, but they are also small countries, it is possible that these flows will also increase.