Interview: Senior IOM official urges Europe to open regular migration routes

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-31 20:18:33|Editor: xuxin
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MADRID, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The European Union should open regular migration routes to combat the organized crime groups that risk the lives of people attempting to reach Europe, a senior official of the international immigration watchdog has said.

Maria Jesus Herrera, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief in Spain, described the people-trafficking mafias as "one of the main problems we are facing," which is becoming "a phenomenon."

"They are taking advantage of this (no regular migration routes) by selling people the chance to reach Europe by irregular means, and that is very dangerous," she said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Herrera said the best way to beat the mafias is for the European and African governments to work together with international aid organizations to help the tens of thousands of immigrants reach Europe "in conditions of dignity, with documents and without risks."

"It is necessary to open regular immigration routes which would allow this to become something normal," she said.

According to IOM data, more than 4,500 people lost their lives in 2018 when trying to cross the Mediterranean from the north of Africa to the south of Europe, with 769 of those dying in attempts to reach Spain -- far greater than the 223 deaths in 2017.

The cross-Mediterranean route linking the north of Africa and Spain was the way mostly used in 2018, bringing 55,206 people to land in the south of Spain, the IOM data showed.

However, instead of a migratory "crisis," a "manageable" phenomenon is what Herrera insisted on calling the problem.

Herrera also stressed the "positive" side of migration, as Europe needs migrants to deal with problems coming from an increasingly aged population.

"Migrants are people who are fleeing from wars and from natural disasters, and they are looking for a better life. Generally they are men aged around 30 years old ..." she said.

Though the majority of migrants presently come from African nations like Guinea, Morocco and Algeria, the origin countries of migrant flow could change in a few months, Herrera said.

"We don't have a crystal ball, but mobility is growing on a worldwide scale, so it is something we have to live with naturally. People are going to move and we have to ensure that they are safe," she concluded.

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