1. Migrants at sea
Sicily and Lampedusa migration flows

2. What is a migration flow? 1
The migration flow is a movement of people from
poor countries to rich western countries, to find
better living conditions.

3. What is a migration flow? 2
For migrants routes in the Mediterrenean sea are
meant those routes of migrants who in the early
nineties crossed the ‘’Mare Nostrum” from Africa,
Asia, the Middle East towards Europe.

4. When did the most recent flows
start in Sicily?
The flows and the landing on Lampedusa island started
mostly in 2000, but during and after the Arab-Spring,
the flows of migrants have been doubled.
Italy 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Sicily 18.350 12.169 25.705 27.715 34.540 44.000

5. Migrants Figures in 2011
On 28 June before the Italian Parliament’s Schengen
Committee, officials from the Italian Coast Guard
reported that at least 44,000 migrants have reached
Italy by boat so far in 2011.

6. Which continent do
the migrants come from?
Most of the migrants come from Sub-Saharan Africa,
Ghana, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria, however after the Arab
Spring refugees have escaped from Libya, Tunisia and
Egypt.
This new scenario of migration flows has changed so
far because the border controls, both in Tunisia and
Lybia, have been decreased.

7. Official reports 1
During the period of 2000-2005, an estimated
440,000 people per year emigrated from Africa, a total
number of 17 million migrants within Africa was
estimated for 2005.
During the 2000s, North Africa had been receiving
large numbers of Sub-Saharan African migrants "in
transit", predominantly from West Africa, who plan to
enter Europe.

8. Official reports 2
An annual 22,000 illegal migrants took the route from
either Tunisia or Libya to Lampedusa in 2000 to 2005
period.
This figure has deceased in 2006, but it has increased
greatly as a result of the 2011 Tunisian revolution and
the 2011 Libyan civil war.

9. Which event has caused a remarkable increase
of the migrant flows to Sicily and Lampedusa?
The event that has caused an increase of migrants
flows to Sicily and Lampedusa is the uprising in Egypt,
Tunisia and the civil war in Libya in 2011.
Comparing to 2010 apart from the Tunisians and
Egyptians most of African nationalities have been
increased of a percentage of 1000%, according to the
International Political Observatory.

10. Departure ports - Landing ports
1.Departure ports: Tunisi, Susa, Mahdia, Sfax, Tripoli.
2.Destinations: Pulia, Sicily, Pantelleria, Lampedusa.

12. Why do they choose Lampedusa? 1
Because the island of Lampedusa constitutes Italy’s
farthest southern border, being geographically
more distant from Sicily than from Tunisia, about
167km from Ras Kaboudia.

13. Why do they choose Lampedusa? 2
Its geographic location makes it the first port of
entry for irregular migrations flows reaching Europe
from the North African coasts.

14. Means of transport used
Old Fishing Boat Dinghy Zodiac type

15. Journey 1
Migration Routes and Migration Methods
The trans-Saharan journey is generally made in several
stages, and might take anywhere between one month
and several years. On their way, migrants often settle
temporarily in towns located on migration hubs to work
and save enough money for their onward journeys,
usually in large trucks or pick-ups.

16. Journey 2
The minority who travel by air aside, the majority of
migrants instead enter the Maghreb overland from
Agadez in Niger despite the existence of multiple,
alternative routes.
Agadez is located on a historical crossroads of trade
routes that now extend deep into West and Central
Africa. From Agadez, migration routes bifurcate to the
Sebha oasis in Libya and to Tamanrasset in southern
Algeria.

17. Journey 3
From southern Libya, migrants move to Tripoli and
other coastal cities or to Tunisia; from the coast,
migrants travel by boat to either Malta or the Italian
islands of Lampedusa, Pantelleria, and Sicily.

19. How much does a journey cost?
In most cases these migrants are victims of "unscrupulous traffickers" and
"merciless" criminal-run smuggling networks, however the majority migrate on
their own initiative. Often, smugglers are not part of international organized
crime but tend to be former nomads and immigrants who operate relatively
small networks. These smugglers generally cooperate with local corrupt police,
border officials, and intermediaries who connect them to employers in Europe.
In the process of crossing the Sahara to North Africa, migrants spend
hundreds of dollars on bribes, smugglers, transportation, and daily necessities.
It is estimated that a boat crossing from Lybia to Italy costs from 1,000
Euro to 1,200. The ground route through Sahara desert from 1,700 Euro to
3,400; Air/Ground/Sea from Asia to Europe from 5,000 to 10,000 Euro.

20. Differences betweeen an irregular
immigrant and a refugee
An irregular immigrant is a person who doesn’t have a residence permit,
passport, documents and visa and generally migrates voluntary to improve his
own living conditions or to be renuited with his family.
A refugee or asylum seeker is a person who is forced to migrate because of
armed conflicts, civil unrest, personal persecution or human rights violations in
his own country.

21. Where are the migrants taken when they arrive
at the safe port of Lampedusa?
• First Aid on the pier.
• The migrants are then taken to the reception centre.
• They are given assistance, they are fed and, in most cases they receive
socio-medical assistance and are distributed clothing, linen and hygiene kits.
• Identification of the so called vulnerable people: pregnant women, children,
minors and the sick.
• Prompt assistance and transfer of vulnerable migrants to other more
specialized centres in Sicily.

22. CC BY 2.0 - pictures taken by Sara Prestianni

23. Identification phase
Measures required by law
• Asylum seekers must have access to the international protection procedures
and must be transferred to dedicated reception centres.
• Voluntary migrants are generally iussed a rejection order and are transferred
to specific centres.
• Minor, vitctims of trafficking, women in distress are placed in adequately
equipped centres.

24. Migrants job collocation
• A large number of migrants die in shipwrecks.
• The migrants without pemission are rejected back to their original countries ,
those who skip police controls end up in the black job market : “illegal car
park custodian”, cleaners, windscreen washer, hawkers, or are recruited by
criminal organizations: prostitution , drug smugglers etc…
• The migrants with permission are employed as unskilled or semi-skilled
workers in the agriculture, factories (in the north of Italy), domestic works or
they run their own business: shops, restaurants, stalls in markets…

25. Photos taken in Palermo