2024 has seen record arrivals, tragic losses of life, and controversial policy shifts define the migration landscape of Europe. Migration routes across the Canary Islands, the English Channel, and the Central Mediterranean have been agitating a lot, while governments in key host countries like Germany and, in some ways, the wider European Union have passed both progressive measures and some quite restrictive ones amid an unabated rise of anti-immigrant sentiment around the continent.
More than 43,000 migrants made landfall on the Canary Islands from West Africa last year—a record high for the country. The immigrants who crossed, with the majority of them originating from Mali, Senegal, and Morocco, used one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. These treacherous crossings killed over 9,700 lives in these crossings.
The local authorities, which could not handle the arrival of migrants, claimed €100 million in emergency funding from the central government of Spain. Larger requests for structural reform and for better management of migration over the longer term have, by and large, gone ignored.
But the Channel was turning treacherous: more than 70 migrants died in 2024, against the combined total of about 40 in the two years beforehand. Yet despite increased patrols on French beaches, migrants continued to attempt it in ever larger numbers, often in small, unsubstantial dinghies that were grossly overcrowded.
Cooperation between the UK and France has failed to arrest the crisis, and while anti-migrant rhetoric builds in both nations, so the tension among the public appears to be growing.
During the months of April and May, the long-argued asylum pact has been adopted to harmonize the migration policy by European Union nations. While celebrated as a breakthrough by many, for several others it undermined the right to asylum while expanding punitive measures against the refugee.
The pact reflects deep political divisions inside the EU, with the wealthier nations calling for tougher border control while leaving countries on the front line like Italy and Greece to deal with the humanitarian burden.
The number of arrivals to Italy traveling via the Central Mediterranean as of 2024 numbered 65,000, lower than more than 153,000 the previous year. The controversial migration bargain between Tunisia and Italy should be one reason.
Despite fewer crossings, the route is considered one of the deadliest this year, with over 1,600 deaths recorded so far. Humanitarian organizations have criticized Italy’s restrictions on NGO rescue operations as leaving migrants more vulnerable out at sea.
In sprawling 2024 migration reforms, looser paths to citizenship [‘opportunity card’ included] were mapped out for Germany’s migrants; stricter measures imposed included nationwide payment cards and faster deportation procedures on asylum seekers.
This mixture of signals reflects the broader European trend of welcoming the skilled, but making life ever harsher for asylum seekers.
The events that have marked the year 2024 also mirror the same persistence of challenges that Europe faces while trying to address the question of migration. Some laws being promulgated on progressive principles notwithstanding, the general tendency of policymaking is toward restriction and increased anti-migrant vitriol. Systemic failures in political and economic areas, both in countries of origin and hosting countries, need to be confronted in order that genuinely viable solutions to the crisis are achieved.