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- Migrants' routes cover the main geographical routes from tropical Africa towards Europe taken by people attempting to gain residence and work opportunities unavailable in their home countries. Although most migrants have Europe as their intended destination, alternative routes are also directed towards South Africa and Asia. Very few African migrants have European travel visas, therefore their only accessible way northwards is that of traveling along trans-Saharan routes and taking boat journeys across sea barriers. About 10% of the whole migratory stream uses sea routes. Most African migrants do not succeed in proceeding beyond the coastal regions of North Africa, ending their journeys in one of the Mediterranean coastal countries (especially in Libya and in the Maghreb, where almost 2 million irregular migrants live). A minority of migrants (between 10 and 15%) continue across the Mediterranean towards Europe facing the dangers of a sea crossing in open boats. The steady stream of migrants has prompted opposition and hostility from North African governments, which have adopted repression and forced repatriation measures. Due to a lack of repatriation agreements, migrants are mainly deported through the southern borders with neighbouring countries (Rosso, near the Mauritania–Senegal border; Oujda, near the Morocco–Algeria border; Tinzouatine and In Guezzam, respectively near Algeria–Mali and Algeria-Niger borders). New migration routes have developed directly from Sub-Saharan countries (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea coast) creating new entry paths and new migratory strategies (i.e. the increasing number of underages because less exposed to the risk of forced homecoming), which have partially varied the migrants' origins (fewer migrants from Sub-Sahara and more from Egypt and Morocco) but still not reducing the migratory pressure from Libya, which is still the major source of people migrating towards Italy and the main spot of departure for the European dream. For many migrants, who try to cross the various African borders and their complex security, crime, or corruption systems, this is a human odyssey, about which in many cases there are no traces and witnesses. The journey involves considerable expenses (people earning less than 1 Euro per day may spend thousands of Euros for this journey), and is also very hazardous. Mortality during journeys across the desert, the sea or during other stops is a major threat. United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, announced that during 2018, at least 50 migrants died trying to cross the Mediterranean. The reasons that prompt people to undertake the journey are mainly economic, for people in search of better living conditions, but also cultural and symbolic (e.g. in Sub-Saharan Africa the journey is mainly meant as a different way of undergoing the traditional rites of passage). Through the modification of control and repression measures, the Sub-Saharan African migratory process is changing and therefore gradually tracing new maritime and overland routes, typically run by criminal organizations and networks of local go-betweens, which operate by collusion with the law enforcement authorities. (en)
- Con la locuzione rotte dei migranti vengono indicati i percorsi abituali utilizzate da chi emigra dal continente africano verso quello europeo. Mappa delle rotte dell'emigrazione dall'Africa occidentale (it)
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