Nearly a decade after the 2015 “migrant crisis,” the EU has intensified efforts to control migration from Africa and the Middle East after what appears to be another wave of migrants seeking to cross over onto the continent. In a bid to combat this, the EU has tightened its border security and introduced three new tactics to discourage the influx of migrants. The bloc’s new tactics include heavily policing borders, harassing Europe-based NGOs that support migrants, and subcontracting the asylum process to African countries. For example, the EU has expanded border fences from 315 km to 2,048 km and uses advanced technology like AI for risk assessments, facial recognition, and military-grade drones to detect refugee boats. It persecutes humanitarian organizations by subjecting them to increased scrutiny and criminalization. And that’s not all. The group also pushes for asylum processing in North Africa, leading to safety concerns and reports of human rights violations.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION