Versunken im Mittelmeer? Flüchtlingsorganisationen im Mittelmeerraum und das Europäische Asylsystem

The sociological study edited by Anna Gansbergen, Ludger Pries and Juliana Witkowski focuses on networks between refugee aid organisations. The publication is the result of a teaching and research project called ‘Mapping Refugees’, which was conducted at the Ruhr University Bochum between 2013 and 2016. Within this period, various student groups researched each for two years. The countries of interest were Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.

The introduction written by the Head of the Department for Social Sciences of the Ruhr University, Ludger Pries, sets the framework and lays the foundation for the subsequent case studies. He argues for the current book’s relevance noting that studies exist analysing the destiny of refugees both on the micro and the macro level, for example explaining why people flee from their home countries. Accordingly, publications discussing the level in-between, the meso level, are lacking, and this book contributes to filling in this gap. It is necessary, Pries argues, to look more closely at the networks of refugee-related organisations in order to better understand the entanglements between the situation of refugees, states’ actions, and the dynamics of refugee movements. The empirical chapters, therefore, focus both on the migration and refugee situation more generally, as well as, more specifically, on the networks of refugee-related organisations in Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece, and Cyprus.

Each chapter focuses on one country of interest, and is set up along an analogous structure: a short introduction explaining the general situation of immigrants, including their numbers and economic situation, is followed by a part subtitled ‘Escape and Asylum’, which is split up in further subchapters. These inform the reader about the historical and current situation of refugees, how these correlate with the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), the admission process of refugees, and the general mood within the population. Then follows a description of the cooperation and the networks between organisations, and two organisations are singled out to be dealt with in more detail. Each chapter closes with a short summary.

Particularly Italy and Spain make for interesting case studies, as they are important players within the European Union, and their approaches to how to deal with refugees differ. Even though Italy was long regarded as only a transit country for refugees, in recent years it found itself confronted with rising numbers of asylum applications. Rapidly changing governments, incidents of corruption and attempts by certain political parties to negatively influence the general atmosphere are added to the already complex system installed in terms of policies toward refugees.

The authors in particular criticise the duration of the asylum seeking process in Italy, which takes weeks if not months. More often than not the procedure seems to be prolonged on purpose in order to deter refugees from applying in the first place, and instead to try in a different country. Problems that have been registered include, for example, the practice of not taking refugees’ finger prints in order to prevent Italy from being identified as the country of entry into the European Union (EU). Yet even though the asylum seeking process in Italy is far from being flawless, the authors still observe that the government, in cooperation with NGOs, has been working towards changes for the better. And not least, they point out that a responsibility exists on the EU level to support countries such as Italy that deal with a high number of people seeking asylum simply due to their geographic position.

In Spain, on the other hand, the number of people entering the country has fallen as a result of strict refugee controls and re-enforcement of state borders. Even though being heavily discussed among Spanish lawyers and academics, parliament passed a law in 2014 that allows those seeking protection to be pushed back. Consequently, boats carrying refugees have often been prevented from docking. The rather friendly attitude among Spanish citizens towards asylum seekers might be connected to their relatively low number. In Spain, refugees are generally not being perceived as a threat. However, the authors of this chapter argue that such strict policies should not be seen as a general solution, as they have not stopped refugees from coming to Europe, nor are they going to do so, be that in Spain or elsewhere. The routes have just changed. NGOs have been criticising, some more openly than others, the current situation in Spain. Here, as in Italy, they have been especially concerned about the slow asylum seeking process. Another serious problem has been the terrible conditions in which refugees live in certain areas.

Malta, as a relatively minor player in the EU compared to Italy and Spain, has seen a rising number of refugees since its entry into the European Union in 2004. This is partly due to the strict border controls in other countries, Spain among them. The authors of this chapter argue that the asylum seeking process in Malta is advanced and effective. In the past it could take up to one year, but nowadays a decision is usually reached within two months. NGOs that share the same interests and goals have established well-functioning networks. For example, they have heavily criticised the Maltese government’s way of dealing with those who enter the country without legal documents, as these migrants are routinely first imprisoned and then deported.

Comprehensively, the book presents an extremely valuable contribution to the field of Refugee Studies. The clear structure of each chapter makes it easy for the reader to compare the respective results. The study increases our understanding of the reasons behind the refugee movements, their dynamics, and the conditions refugees face when entering certain countries. Unsurprisingly, the case studies were chosen because of to their geographical location, adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.

Occasionally, the reader could have gained even more if the gathered interview materials had been quoted more extensively. Even though the book explicitly does not wish to address the micro level, that is to portray individual refugees’ stories and destinies, I would say that the chapters would have been even more attractive had they included at least some personal stories. Additionally, some more in-depth analyses of the disagreements or conflicts existing within certain organisations would have enhanced the case studies. As it stands, it is not clear whether such issues were not included because the interviewees did not mention them, refused to talk about them, or whether such conflicts actually did not occur. The latter would be highly surprising, however. This missing topos would at least have needed to be problematized by the authors. Summing up, the volume offers a well done overview of the general migration and refugee situation in several Mediterranean states, with a special focus on the respective networks of non-governmental organisations.