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Algeria's immigration problems come home advice
No longer simply a transition country for immigrants travelling from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, Algeria has begun to see its own citizens risk everything to reach the haven they call Europe. Seeking better lives than what they have found in Algeria, men and women known as harragas have turned to maritime routes to get around tightened land border controls.
On board small vessels converted into ferries, dozens of young people set off each month on adventures which may end in a detention centre if luck is on their side or at the bottom of the Mediterranean if it is not.
Equipped with GPS systems, hopeful immigrants set off from Algeria's western coasts to reach Spain, or eastern coasts to reach Italy, often running out of fuel before reaching their destination. Lost in the middle of the Mediterranean, those who survive owe their lives to passing fishermen or the coastguards that pick them up.
Such is the story of Mohamed, a 28-year-old from Mostaganem, a coastal town to the west of Algiers. Without any feeling, he tells of his misadventure.
"In 2005, I was contacted by one of my cousins. He told me he was planning to leave for Spain with five other people and there was still a place left. I didn't think twice, and said yes straight away."
The voyage was far from cheap, however; Mohamed had to stump up 50,000 dinars for his passage. "I did all I could to scrape the money together. I borrowed from my family and some of my friends, promising to pay them back once I'd got to the other side of the Mediterranean."
When the big day arrived, Mohamed headed off late at night to the meeting point, armed with a simple bundle of belongings. "It was raining, but the person leading the expedition said it was impossible to go back because they were waiting for us on the other side."
Mohamed's memories of the crossing are dreadful. "The boat was capsizing, carried away by huge waves. We kept going for two hours. We were shivering with cold. Some were being sick when one of the motors stopped. A few minutes later the other one stopped too. We weren't making headway any more, and we were at the mercy of the waves. We couldn't see anything on the horizon, and then we were in the water. It was freezing. I was clinging to an oil can, but I'll never forget the screams of my friends who couldn't swim. They drowned. I and three others clung on to the oil cans for what seemed like an eternity. I don't know how long it was, but I felt paralysed, I couldn't move a muscle."
Mohamed and his companions owe their lives to fishermen on a trawler, who brought them not to Spain, but back to the town where Mohammed grew up, the town he had been hoping to escape.
Looking back, he has no regrets and remains convinced that there is nothing for him here in Algeria. "I'm 25, I'm single, I have no work and no prospects," he said, wondering, "Why should I stay?" Unemployment, poor living standards and exclusion push a growing number of Algerians to attempt to leave at any cost.
According to Algeria's border guard, since 2005 more than 2,300 harragas have been intercepted on the open seas or the Algerian coast, more than half of which were in mortal danger at the time of rescue. Their numbers have increased steadily over that period, from 336 in 2005 to 1,382 in 2005 and 918 through August 2007. The potential immigrants are generally aged between 18 and 40 and they come from all walks of life. One is just as likely to find students and traders as unemployed people attempting to reach Europe. Many of those who manage to cross the sea end up in the hands of the Spanish, Italian or French police, with whom Algeria has signed readmission agreements covering immigrant returns.
Algeria's first agreement on forced returns was signed with France, a favourite destination for Algerians. With the toughening of conditions governing emigration to the Hexagon, clandestine immigrants sought out other destinations, forcing Algeria to ratify agreements with Germany, Spain and Italy in the late 1990s and more recently with the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Nearly all who wind up in the hands of European security forces are sent back to Algeria. "Algeria is making it a point of honour to repatriate its children," said a spokesperson for Algeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Those who have been sent back are listed with the Ministry of National Solidarity, which tries to find them a job. Minister for National Solidarity Djamel Ould Abbés, said this is because "all these young people must be kept in their natural environment."
Algeria's General Directorate of National Security plans to step up efforts to stop clandestine immigration by establishing an institution charged with investigating, localising and dismantling organised networks.
The Algerian coastguard plans to increase patrols of coasts and routes favoured by immigrants and has begun telling amateur sailors to stop sailing from September 30th to April 30th in an effort to slow clandestine immigration. Abbés said the Ministry of National Solidarity is also preparing a campaign with shocking images and survivor accounts to dissuade young people from attempting this feat.
The government also plans to amend the maritime law on the books since 1998. A key aspect of the planned amendment will be the criminalisation of operating illegal passenger ferries.
On board small vessels converted into ferries, dozens of young people set off each month on adventures which may end in a detention centre if luck is on their side or at the bottom of the Mediterranean if it is not.
Equipped with GPS systems, hopeful immigrants set off from Algeria's western coasts to reach Spain, or eastern coasts to reach Italy, often running out of fuel before reaching their destination. Lost in the middle of the Mediterranean, those who survive owe their lives to passing fishermen or the coastguards that pick them up.
Such is the story of Mohamed, a 28-year-old from Mostaganem, a coastal town to the west of Algiers. Without any feeling, he tells of his misadventure.
"In 2005, I was contacted by one of my cousins. He told me he was planning to leave for Spain with five other people and there was still a place left. I didn't think twice, and said yes straight away."
The voyage was far from cheap, however; Mohamed had to stump up 50,000 dinars for his passage. "I did all I could to scrape the money together. I borrowed from my family and some of my friends, promising to pay them back once I'd got to the other side of the Mediterranean."
When the big day arrived, Mohamed headed off late at night to the meeting point, armed with a simple bundle of belongings. "It was raining, but the person leading the expedition said it was impossible to go back because they were waiting for us on the other side."
Mohamed's memories of the crossing are dreadful. "The boat was capsizing, carried away by huge waves. We kept going for two hours. We were shivering with cold. Some were being sick when one of the motors stopped. A few minutes later the other one stopped too. We weren't making headway any more, and we were at the mercy of the waves. We couldn't see anything on the horizon, and then we were in the water. It was freezing. I was clinging to an oil can, but I'll never forget the screams of my friends who couldn't swim. They drowned. I and three others clung on to the oil cans for what seemed like an eternity. I don't know how long it was, but I felt paralysed, I couldn't move a muscle."
Mohamed and his companions owe their lives to fishermen on a trawler, who brought them not to Spain, but back to the town where Mohammed grew up, the town he had been hoping to escape.
Looking back, he has no regrets and remains convinced that there is nothing for him here in Algeria. "I'm 25, I'm single, I have no work and no prospects," he said, wondering, "Why should I stay?" Unemployment, poor living standards and exclusion push a growing number of Algerians to attempt to leave at any cost.
According to Algeria's border guard, since 2005 more than 2,300 harragas have been intercepted on the open seas or the Algerian coast, more than half of which were in mortal danger at the time of rescue. Their numbers have increased steadily over that period, from 336 in 2005 to 1,382 in 2005 and 918 through August 2007. The potential immigrants are generally aged between 18 and 40 and they come from all walks of life. One is just as likely to find students and traders as unemployed people attempting to reach Europe. Many of those who manage to cross the sea end up in the hands of the Spanish, Italian or French police, with whom Algeria has signed readmission agreements covering immigrant returns.
Algeria's first agreement on forced returns was signed with France, a favourite destination for Algerians. With the toughening of conditions governing emigration to the Hexagon, clandestine immigrants sought out other destinations, forcing Algeria to ratify agreements with Germany, Spain and Italy in the late 1990s and more recently with the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Nearly all who wind up in the hands of European security forces are sent back to Algeria. "Algeria is making it a point of honour to repatriate its children," said a spokesperson for Algeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Those who have been sent back are listed with the Ministry of National Solidarity, which tries to find them a job. Minister for National Solidarity Djamel Ould Abbés, said this is because "all these young people must be kept in their natural environment."
Algeria's General Directorate of National Security plans to step up efforts to stop clandestine immigration by establishing an institution charged with investigating, localising and dismantling organised networks.
The Algerian coastguard plans to increase patrols of coasts and routes favoured by immigrants and has begun telling amateur sailors to stop sailing from September 30th to April 30th in an effort to slow clandestine immigration. Abbés said the Ministry of National Solidarity is also preparing a campaign with shocking images and survivor accounts to dissuade young people from attempting this feat.
The government also plans to amend the maritime law on the books since 1998. A key aspect of the planned amendment will be the criminalisation of operating illegal passenger ferries.
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