Hiiraan Online
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
A group of young men in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, take a break from an informal football match. Youth unemployment in Somaliland is among the highest in the world at between 60 and 70 percent. © Adrian Leversby/IRIN
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Six friends watch the ongoing migration crisis in Europe carefully on the news in a beachside restaurant in Mogadishu. All of them are eager to find out what will happen to the desperate and tired refugees fighting to escape from Eastern Europe into the more prosperous northern EU states like Germany, UK and Scandinavian countries. All speculate that because of the continuous news coverage, all of the refugees will be given asylum in Europe and this makes them hopeful.
“I think European countries are scared of the media and they will give all the refugees citizenship,” said one boy. “I can’t see how all these people can be returned to their homes now.”
“The refugees look desperate now but they have a good life ahead when they get their European citizenship,” added another. “Even the PM of UK who was most against their asylum is now changing his mind.”
All of the six friends are teenagers with the oldest member of the group been 19 years of age and all are from different regions of Somalia. They met during a recent unsuccessful attempt to migrate to Europe. The boys had paid a smuggler the equivalent of $5,000 each for safe passage to Europe but the smuggler took their money and disappeared without them ever leaving Mogadishu.
“We all wanted to leave Somalia because there are no jobs and opportunities. We all have education but we are very poor,” said one of the friends.
All of the friends agreed that their future did not lie in Somalia but somewhere in Europe preferably England, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway or Finland. The preference for these States were consistent as the friends thought they offered them the best opportunities for education, skills and employment.
Related: The perilous journey from Somalia to Italy: A story of an illegal immigrant
“Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Norway, UK and Finland are cold but we know people who went there and are now doing very well,” said another member of the group who had attempted to get to Europe three times already.
All of the six boys have attempted to get to Europe more than once and four admitted to ill treatment at the hands of smugglers during these failed attempts.
“I was beaten up and kept in a hole in Libya and my family paid money to get me back,” said the youngest member of the group who clearly appeared traumatised by the experience. “My mum was upset because we don’t have much but my family in America helped her.” The other 3 victims of abuse at the hands of the smugglers shared the experience of their friend but did not want to discuss it as a result of the pain it caused them and their families.
Despite the suffering, pain and abuse all 6 friends were in the process of seeking employment to raise the funds to leave Somalia for Europe.
“The easiest way is to get a Visa to Turkey and then go to Greece but the Turkish Embassy does not visas easily in Somalia,” said the oldest of the group of friends. “If you pretend to be a student or like you are going on holiday the Turkish Government has introduced strict conditions which includes money we don’t have now.”
The boys stated that many options were open to them but all needed money which they needed to raise by finding work. However, all were determined to reach Europe by any means necessary.
When challenged with the fact that many in the Diaspora were returning to Somalia from abroad all the young men were dismissive.
“They are returning because they now have European, American and other passports. They can leave any time they want,” said one.
“Many have failed in the Diaspora and are returning now to take our jobs. You know they never bring their family with them when they return. Why is that?” added another.
“Some of the returning Diaspora are good because they want to give back. We want to give back too but let us have the opportunities they had abroad first,” added another. All of them agreed with this statement.
Human Trafficking, smuggling and illegal migration is a priority policy issue for the EU which has initiated many initiatives, including the Khartoum process, to stem the tide of illegal migration into the EU by working with source and transit countries in Africa. An international conference will be held in Valletta, Malta during early next month by the EU to discuss the matter of migration further with 35 African States of which Somalia is one. However, critics feel that this is not enough.
“Meetings will not solve this issue as humans will always seek greater opportunities abroad. The key issues here are security, jobs, economic development and opportunity for the young people of who are dying at sea,” said Nur Jama, a Somali Policy analyst.
Throughout the week HOL interviewed over 100 young people in Somalia and an overwhelming number of them were either planning to leave for greener pastures, particularly Europe, or are at least thinking about it. Almost all stated security, poverty and lack of opportunities as the reasons they were either leaving Somalia or thinking about doing it in the future.