Why is there still a migrant crisis in Europe?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This year almost 100,000 people have arrived in Italy by boat - and more than 2,000 have died trying.
The Italians say they can’t cope, but it's a problem which has now been going on for years - so why has nobody solved it?
In this week's programme David Aaronovitch asks who are the migrants, where are they coming from, how do they get to Europe and what needs to be done to stop more people dying.
CONTRIBUTORS
Joel Millman, UN's International Organisation for Migration
Tuesday Reitano, Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime
Mattia Toaldo, European Council on Foreign Relations
Elizabeth Collett, Migration Policy Institute Europe
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:04.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:11.0 | The focus of the European migrant crisis has shifted. |
| 0:19.0 | So far this year, nearly 100,000 people set off from Libya |
| 0:23.6 | and travelled in small boats to Italy. |
| 0:26.6 | More than 2,000 have died. |
| 0:28.6 | Italy say they've had enough. |
| 0:30.6 | We can't cope anymore. |
| 0:32.6 | The pores will be overwhelmed very quickly. |
| 0:34.6 | We receive nearly 600,000 people over three years. It's like the |
| 0:40.2 | population of Manchester, all to Italy. It seems that the situation is unsustainable. But who's |
| 0:48.2 | coming? Where from? Why? And are we just flailing around, or has someone got a plan? |
| 0:56.0 | Step inside the briefing room to find out from the people who know. |
| 1:01.0 | The journey people undertake across the Mediterranean is usually tough and sometimes tragic. |
| 1:14.8 | Why do the migrants themselves say they take such risks? |
| 1:19.2 | I'm from Nigeria, so I left my country because I need a better life. |
| 1:24.2 | It is not easy for us to be here today because in that port many people died. |
| 1:26.0 | For God's sake, keep us alive. |
| 1:33.3 | I'm from Nigeria. On my journey, I face so many difficulties through the desert, through the sea, in Libya, many difficulties, many things happen, many tribulations. |
| 1:37.3 | Because of the suffering in Africa, Nigeria, we believe that European is better. |
| 1:41.3 | So small force are not afraid of death. The first thing we need to know is who the migrants are and where they come from. |
| 1:49.0 | In the briefing room to tell me that is Joel Millman from the UN's international organization for migration. |
... |
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