Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497281
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 APRIL 2023 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt We need to wage war on human In a sense, the word 'immigra- tion' always brings with it a certain sense of 'deja-vu'. For years, we have been hearing the same old political plati- tudes... yet all the while, the flow of migration itself (not to mention all the associated fa- talities, such as last month's umpteenth tragedy off the Ital- ian coast) always seems to just continue, unabated. As some- one who has paid close atten- tion to what is really happen- ing on the ground, however: how much truth is there to that perception, in reality? First of all: I know exactly where you're coming from; I know that, when you look at migra- tion on a broader level... it does feel as though nothing ever really 'changes', at the end of the day. Especially when you look at the events of recent weeks, in Italy and elsewhere: and see how 'rem- iniscent' they are, of similar trage- dies that had occurred around 10 years ago, or more. Under those circumstances, it's hard not to ex- perience that feeling of 'deja-vu': as though we are constantly go- ing through the same old cycle of events, over and over again. In reality, though: a lot has actu- ally changed, since then; and lots of things keep changing, all the time. The problem, however, is that governments are also among the things that 'keep changing', on a regular basis; and because there is no real continuity, be- tween one administration and the next... we never really learn from our past mistakes. And this, at the end of the day, is why that 'cycle' seems to con- stantly keep repeating itself: and why – unsurprisingly - it always produces what feel like the same results... I think I can see what you're driving at... but can you be more specific? What sort of 'changes' are you actually re- ferring to, in practical terms? Let's start by just taking a look at the central Mediterranean: by which I mean Malta, Tunisia, It- aly, Libya... and maybe, at most, a small part of Egypt. Now: in 2017, there was a cata- strophic collapse of Libya's entire human smuggling industry. And this was reflected in the numbers: if you look at data for 2016, you will see that there were around 180,000 departures from Lib- ya – and there's a reason, by the way, why I specifically refer to 'departures from Libya'; and not just 'arrivals in Europe' (which is how official statistics are usually compiled.) Because to me, it is misleading to only refer to the number of migrants who actually 'make it to Europe', after the crossing from Africa.... as opposed to the total number of people who actually attempt that crossing, to begin with: many of whom may never 'make it', in the end... either be- cause they 'turn back'; or 'get in- tercepted'; or else end up dying, in yet another tragedy at sea. But that was just an aside. My point is that – one year later, in 2017 – the number of departures from Libya fell drastically: from 180,000, to only 120,000. And while that might not seem like such a massive contraction, when viewed as a yearly figure.... you will notice that a very, VERY sharp decline occurred specifical- ly in July 2017: which coincides with a change in policy, by Libya's former Government of National Accord (GNA), to try and 'co-opt' as many local militias as possible, that were known to be involved with human smuggling opera- tions at the time. Now: it's important to bear in mind that the period I'm talking about – between 2016 and 2017– was a highly sensitive moment, politically, for Libya in general. There was a lot of discussion, at the time, about that country's po- litical future. It seemed that the GNA had 'run its course' - that it had 'expired', so to speak - and what this implied, in all likeli- hood, was another 'reboot' of the entire political system: another new government, with another mandate to hold fresh elections: and so on, and so forth. There was, in brief, a sensation that things were about to change, dramatically... and on top of that, there was also unprecedented pressure on Libya – by the inter- national community; and espe- cially, by the European press – to clamp down on human smug- gling, once and for all. To cut a long story short, the upshot was that nearly all those militias – if not all of them - were convinced to go from being 'out- laws', to 'sheriffs'.... from one day, to the next. And if I use terminology from the 'Wild West': it's because it's very much the same sort of con- text, at the end of the day. Then as now, you have criminal gangs, or militias, that sometimes get 'roped into' the law enforcement sector: and end up 'policing' the same sort of criminal activities, that they themselves had earlier been in the business of 'protect- ing'... I understand that your line of work – as a researcher into North Africa's human smug- gling networks – has also placed you in direct contact with at least some of these people. If so: what are they ac- tually like, anyway? At the time we're talking about, I was lucky enough to be com- missioned to go to Libya and conduct interviews with various militia leaders, almost back-to- back, over the course of several months. So if you're asking for a typical profile, based on my own experi- ence... what I can tell you, rough- ly, is that we're looking at a 'late 20s, early 30s' type of guy... who – either during, or immediately after the 2011 revolution – some- how managed to corner some parcel of Libyan territory; even- tually, rising to becoming 'head honcho', when it comes to con- trolling the criminal activities of that particular area. It doesn't mean, however, that they are all directly involved in the actual day-to-day administra- tion, of all those criminal activi- ties. In fact, very few of them ac- tually are. In this sense, it is more akin to the model we associate with the traditional Sicilian ma- fia... whereby 'human smuggling' (in this instance) is but one of several illicit activities, that hap- pen to provide a steady source of revenue for whoever controls the local market. Irregular migration may seem eternally 'beyond our ability to control'. But MARK MICALLEF – former journalist, now a researcher with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime – argues that positive results can, in fact, be achieved: if only we focused our energies on the 'real' targets