By Priya Deshingkar
Mention “Libya” and “migration” and this immediately conjures
up terrible images of hazardous journeys across the desert, the trading of
human beings by unscrupulous smugglers, lawlessness and detention centres.
It was surprising therefore to hear contrasting accounts of
migrant journeys during our fieldwork in Ghana where the team has been speaking
to men in the Brong Ahafo region who have returned from Libya. This region in
middle Ghana has a long history of international migration and is known for its
network of “connection men” or brokers who specialise in getting people across
the desert into Libya – a process called “pushing”. It also receives the
largest number of returnees from Libya even though they may have originated
from other parts of Ghana – according to the Ghana Immigration Services roughly
4000 migrants returned to Brong Ahafo from Libya in 2017.
As media reports suggest, overland journeys to Libya, the
preferred mode of travel for irregular migrants and the smugglers who are
getting them across, are extremely hazardous – long drives through the desert
without food and water and traversing multiple checkpoints across borders where
the language and currency are different. The last leg of the journey is
extremely dangerous with armed gangs in search of migrants as they are easy
prey in a situation with no protection and often because they are on foot,
having been left by cars to find their way to the border. We heard stories of
“connection houses” where migrants are detained if they are unable to pay
brokers enough to begin the next part of the journey. They may be stranded for
weeks in limbo without knowing when they will travel again and have to work for
a pittance in these transit points.
For those who make it to Libya, other kinds
of risks and vulnerabilities await – many of the migrants that we spoke to said
that black people are still treated like slaves in Libya and being beaten and
racially abused by employers was a common experience. Not only that, with rival
armed militias roaming the streets unchecked and robbing and shooting people
randomly, they are too afraid to step out of their homes as they are easy
targets. In some cases relatives or friends (so-called sponsors) in Libya may
also finance brokers to bring them over by offering to pay for the migrant’s
passage on the promise that s/he works to pay off the debt. Ghanaians in Libya
are therefore hyper precarious – trapped
in low paid work or in a few instances debt-bondage and also precarized by
their irregular status.
To then hear that migrants who have been arrested and
deported back to Ghana from such horrible conditions have plans to migrate
again is counter-intuitive. There are two reasons for this – the first is the
opportunities that Libya offers – for remunerative work and the possibilities
of onward journeys. Despite the lawlessness, dangers and precarity, Libya is an
important labour market for those who want to save and attempt a crossing to
Europe or invest back at home. Most irregular migrants quickly find work in the
construction industry through other Ghanaians and they may also be employed in
small eateries and businesses. The employment is completely informal without
contracts and carries risks - there were cases of non-payment leaving migrants
with no legal recourse because of their irregular status. Although most
migrants are men, there are a few female migrants and they too are employed as
hairdressers or food sellers by Ghanaians who came before them. These diaspora
networks make it possible for new migrants to survive and integrate in Libya.
According to one returnee, even on a short stint in Libya
before he was deported, he managed to save enough money to buy a plot of land
at home. Another reason given by the respondents for preferring work in Libya
is that they do not have to give expensive gifts to senior masons to learn work
skills the way they need to in Ghana and they can move up the skills ladder
more easily. Libya is regarded as a place with multiple opportunities for
well-paid work with the added bonus of getting a chance to migrate to Italy if
they are lucky. One man had been through hellish journeys to Libya nine times
and was still planning to re-migrate.
The second reason for re-migrating is to save face in the
community and fulfil family expectations. Deportation abruptly disrupts the
migration project and when migrants come back as failures there are
consequences within the family and the wider community. Re-migration can
maintain the identity of man as a good and courageous family man. For both these reasons deportation and
information campaigns to discourage migrants appear not to be making a dent in
either people’s desire to migrate or the migration industry enabling them.
There are no easy “solutions” here but just recognising that
scaremongering tactics are unlikely to succeed would be a first important step.
Rather than viewing Libya as a place where migrants to Europe should be
interrupted, detained and deported, the EU, IOM and Government of Ghana need to
recognise its importance as a work destination in its own right. The EU and IOM
could try to facilitate discussions between Libya and the Government of Ghana
to develop systems of labour circulation that allow migrants to work in Libya
for a period of time. At the same time, any such measures should try to
minimise bureaucratic procedures as this is often a prime reason for opting for
irregular migration and brokers in the first place.
