Anger during the funeral of one of the victims of the sinking Lebanese boat from the residents of Nahr al-Bared camp in Tripoli, Lebanon
As soon as people are close to forgetting the tragedy of the drowning of Arab illegal immigrants, on their journey on a death boat towards the shores of Europe, a new catastrophe unfolds upon them. In fact, a large number of young men, in different parts of the Arab region, are stalked, pushing them to ride the waves, on weak boats on trips that mostly end in death by drowning.
The last of these tragedies was the tragedy of that boat, which set out from the Lebanese coast, last Tuesday, towards the European shore, and sank off the coast of the Syrian port of Tartous, and on board, according to survivors’ accounts, between 120 and 150 people, of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationalities, whose destination was European country.
The number of victims of the sinking boat varies so far, as some reports estimate them to be 87 drowned, while some sources indicate that the number is greater than that. 94 people, and observers consider that, given the number of passengers on the boat referred to by some survivors, which is approximately 150, the number of victims is likely to increase, in light of the presence of a large number of missing persons.
Happens in most Arab countries
It seems striking in the tragedy of the drowning of these illegal immigrants from Lebanon, this time the presence of other nationalities other than Lebanese, on board the sinking boat, as there were Palestinians and Syrians on board alongside the Lebanese, and according to multiple sources, the 25 Palestinians who were on board the sinking boat are A resident of Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon.
And if the presence of Palestinians living in Lebanon, on board the sinking boat, is a natural matter, as they are engulfed in the fires of the difficult living conditions experienced by the Lebanese, and push them to emigrate, what is more striking, is what the reports say, that the Syrians who were on board the sinking boat, They came from Syria to Lebanon to emigrate through its shores.
According to a BBC report, Lebanon is witnessing a significant rise in immigration rates, driven by a devastating economic collapse that left large sectors of the Lebanese people suffering poverty over the past three years, and the report refers to statistics, according to which the number of those trying to leave Lebanon by sea, in 2021, it doubled more than it was during 2020, according to estimates by the United Nations Refugee Agency, while the number increased again by 70% during 2022.
However, the desperate pursuit of life by many Arab youths is not limited to the Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians only. Incidents of boarding death boats, on dangerous journeys, are repeated in many Arab countries, and news of those who drown in those boats have become a familiar thing in the media. From Libya to Tunisia to Morocco.
The Arab Barometer poll, which was carried out by the Arab Barometer Network, in cooperation with the BBC in 2019, indicated that 20% of the participants expressed their desire to emigrate, and in the age group between 18-29 years, the percentage reached 52%.
It was striking among the results reached by the Arab Barometer poll that those wishing to emigrate showed a willingness to travel without official papers (illegal immigration). In Sudan, for example, the percentage of these people reached 43%, which is almost the same in Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco. While it reached 12% in Lebanon and 18% in Jordan.
During the current year 2022, there have been repeated incidents of sinking boats carrying illegal immigrants off the coast of Tunisia, and news that the Tunisian authorities have thwarted illegal immigration attempts across the Tunisian shores have become an almost daily affair, and on the twenty-fourth of last May, it was announced The Tunisian coast guard said that it rescued 24 illegal immigrants, while he said that 76 others were missing, after the boat they were on sank, which, according to the Tunisian coast guard, set off from the Libyan city of Zuwara with a hundred immigrants on board.
On the eighth of this September, the official spokesman for the Tunisian National Guard announced that the bodies of 6 illegal immigrants had been recovered, whose boat sank on the same day off the coast of Mahdia governorate in the east of the country, indicating that 16 people on board had been rescued.
In Morocco, many still remember the killing of at least 23 Africans, on the border between Moroccan and Spanish lands in Melilla, when they sought to break into the border fences between the two countries, whose height ranges between six and ten meters. Moroccan reports at the time indicated that between 1300 and 2000 A man, mostly from Sudan and South Sudan, sought to storm the border, which led to this number of victims during the stampede, while human rights organizations accused the Moroccan security forces of using excessive force in dealing with these people, which Morocco denied in turn.
Who is responsible for the recent sinking of the Lebanese death boat off the coast of Syria?
How do you see the measures taken by the Lebanese authorities after the incident and their announcement of the arrest of the smuggler?
Do you think that arresting smugglers will solve the problem? And why?
Why do young people in most Arab countries insist on risking their lives to immigrate to Europe?
Do you think that Europe’s support for Arab countries in security arrangements to control this migration will limit it?
What is the best way from your point of view to contain the phenomenon?
How can Arab youth be persuaded to stay in their country and not to think about emigrating?
We will discuss these and other topics with you in the episode of Monday, September 26th
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