Over 180 km of fences, built relentlessly in 180 days. Here is the response given by Poland in November, to the arrival of migrants at its border with Belarus. “Un absolutely strategic and priority investment in the context of the security of our country and our citizens “, then insisted the Minister of the Interior, Mariusz Kaminski, quoted by Le Figaro, to justify the project.
These fences will soon be added to some 1,000 km of walls already in existence within the European Union and the Schengen area, according to the Transational Institute * (TNI) think tank. Faced with the instrumentalization of exiles by the Belarusian authorities, twelve EU member states called on the European Commission to finance the construction of such barriers at Europe’s external borders, “an effective border protection measure, which serves the interests of the whole of the EU, not just the Member States on the front line”, they claim.
These physical barriers, which have been developing markedly since the 2015 migration crisis on the European continent, are they really an adequate response and “effective” ? What consequences do they entail for people in exile wishing to seek asylum in Europe? At a time when the French presidency of the EU begins, one of the stated priorities of which is the reform of the Schengen area, franceinfo has looked into these questions.
Europe is today the second continent, after Asia, with the most border walls, according to the Transnational Institute *. The last six years have significantly affected this data. In 2015, more than a million migrants arrived in Europe illegally. According to’EU Fundamental Rights Agency*, 235 km of walls were built between Bulgaria and Turkey, 158 km between Hungary and Serbia, more than 200 km at the border separating Latvia from Russia … Not to mention the fences built within the EU, especially at the border between Hungary and Croatia.
If the increase in exile arrivals in the mid-2010s was the trigger for this reaction, it is necessary to recall “the importance of national political contexts in these developments”, underlines Helena Hahn, policy analyst at the European Policy Center (EPC). “The increase in migratory flows has been accompanied by a surge in populist policies and governments.”
The images of these constructions, in a context of rising discourse hostile to immigration, aimed to send a clear and supposedly reassuring signal to the populations.
“Building these walls is a symbol, a message sent to citizens. It is a tool increasingly used by governments to show that they are tackling illegal immigration.”
Hanne Beirens, Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europeto franceinfo
Once this period of political communication has passed, what first effects have these barriers had on European borders? As Hanne Beirens points out, “research on the subject shows us that a reinforced fence, well maintained and supervised, can be highly effective for a relatively small place, and which was seen as a crossing point “. However, if these fences do not cover the whole of a border, “It has a detour, deviation effect: these walls divert migratory flows to other places on the border where there are fewer fences.”
Thus, the construction of barriers at the Hungarian border has caused a displacement of many arrivals to Slovenia and Croatia, according to an investigation by the Canadian public media CBC *. Another wall, the one built by Macedonia on the border with Greece in 2016, has reduced entry while creating a “traffic jam”, “as well as the most important refugee camp in Europe” in Idomeni (Greece). Up to 15,000 exiles remained stranded there until the camp was dismantled.
If these walls send “a clear signal, that of not wanting to let people in, there are many other factors that play a key role in the decision to emigrate, underlines Helena Hahn. Violence, conflicts, the economy … You have to look beyond the walls and understand what really pushes people into exile. ” Irregular migration to Europe has declined after the peak of 2015, falling to 374,000 in 2016 and 184,000 in 2017, but construction is not the main cause of this development, according to American doctoral student Eleanor Paynter. This decline took place “above all because fewer Syrians were fleeing their war-torn country”, she reports in The Conversation *.
The 2016 agreement between Brussels and Ankara, authorizing the return of exiles from Greece to Turkey, as well as the closure of borders on the Balkan route, also played an important role, according to Frontex *. In addition, “more migrants – nearly 700,000 people – are detained in Libya “, recalled in 2019 Eleanor Paynter. To reduce arrivals via the Mediterranean, a European policy of collaboration with the Libyan authorities has led to an increase in these detentions, in “sponsoring Libyan coast guards to intercept migrants in international waters and bring them back to Libya”, reports Médecins sans frontières *.
For Chloé Peyronnet, doctoral student in European migration policy at the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, “absolutely nothing will deter the exiles, apart from the physical constraint by third States upstream of the borders “. Walls, barbed wire and other obstacles ultimately lead exiled people to alternative migratory routes, often more dangerous, note the researchers interviewed by franceinfo.
“It comes down to putting in place devices that we know will cause the death of some people.”
Chloé Peyronnet, doctoral student in European migration policyto franceinfo
The gradual closures along the Balkan route, from 2015, have thus pushed some exiles on the Arctic route to Norway and Finland, via Russia, underlines researcher Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto of the Center Delàs , co-author of the Transnational Institute report on these border walls in Europe. “This Arctic route was longer and riskier, because these migrants had to walk longer and in the cold”, she illustrates to franceinfo. A situation that makes them particularly vulnerable to smuggling networks. “This will dramatically increase the prices of human traffickers, smugglers, support Chloé Peyronnet. Prices increase with the dangerousness of the journey. “
The strengthening of border surveillance has in parallel provoked a rebound in violations of the fundamental rights of exiles, according to theEU Fundamental Rights Agency. “Border barriers can limit the ability of people in need of international protection to seek refuge”, she believes. In theory, the possibility of submitting an asylum application is a fundamental right, guaranteed by both European and international texts. However, these fences have undermined this achievement.
“All human beings have the right to seek asylum, but with these walls there is no difference between asylum seekers and other migrants.”
Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto, researcher at Center Delàsto franceinfo
And the expert deplores the absence of a European mechanism to protect this right. In the opinion of Chloé Peyronnet, the objective of these fences is precisely “to prevent people who could apply for asylum seek asylum”. Obstacles to the law exacerbated by several provisions of member states, sanctioning irregular entries into their territories. In September, Amnesty International * thus alerted to the impact of two Polish laws, which make it impossible to apply for asylum for people who have arrived in an irregular situation.
These physical borders can also become privileged places of refoulement of migrants, and attacks on their physical integrity. “Research carried out by NGOs and videos confirm that the automatic expulsions of sub-Saharan people at the Melilla barrier frequently lead to mistreatment by Moroccan forces”, alerts the European Center for Human and Constitutional Rights *. Abuse that “involve a high level of violence” and that “are known to the Spanish forces”.
“NGOs and the media have documented this violence, but victims very rarely have the opportunity to report what happened.”
Helena Hahn, Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centerto franceinfo
These barriers directly lead to injuries and even death. In a recent report * from theEU Fundamental Rights Agency, the fall of these walls at the borders are rightly cited as one of the causes of the deaths of exiles, which increased after 2016. Thirty-one people died around the fences built in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla between 2018 and 2020, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Faced with the development of these walls, what can the European Union do? “Member States have the right to finance and build walls as they see fit. It is not an EU competence”, notes Helena Hahn. Nevertheless, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recalled in October the “common position” the executive and the European Parliament, “that there will be no funding for barbed wire and walls” at the borders.
What vision will Emmanuel Macron defend on the subject during the French presidency of the Council of the EU? “We must have coordinated and common protection methods for our external borders. Many migrants arrive by air or sea. I am afraid that a wall is not enough.”, declared the head of state at the European Council of 21 and 22 October. And the president underlines: “We must protect ourselves. But we must never do so by forgetting our principles.”
* Links marked with an asterisk lead to pages in English.