Death Tolls on the Borders

Do you know that hundreds of people have died in their search of migration? Thousands of people in some parts of the world---India, Bangladesh, Mexico, The Philippines, Morocco, Cuba, and many others---long to go to the developed countries to search for a better living. Yet, often they do not satisfy the requirements. They neither speak English nor have the education required. They have no money, no papers, nothing. All they have is faith; as they have to feed their family back home where life is getting more and more difficult for them.

Working overseas is a dream comes true for these people. But for the host countries, it means more guards to deploy and walls and barbed wires fences to build. Since Spain and the other 29 European countries abolished their border controls in Schengen agreement, Morocco has become the main gate for African illegal immigrants who headed towards Europe. Ceuta, a tiny region on the northern tip of Morocco, is a place for the immigrants to seek their way up to Europe illegally. When the night comes, some Africans sneaked to the border and climbed up the two sixth-metre-high barbed-wire fences which were erected by the Spanish government. The area is guarded by watchtowers, video cameras and noise and movement sensors to detect any border out-breakers. There's a huge possibility that they could be caught by the Spanish police and sent to jail.

Besides the escape way from Ceuta, there are few of them who tried to cross from the sea. Crossing the sea is notoriously dangerous. Hundreds of people have died in the sea because of the storm or capsized boats. The boats used are usually very small and can only be used by maximum ten people. Yet, usually there are around twenty five on board and the condition is made worse by the storm. There had been cases where the boats sank off the sea. Few of them were alive and rescued by the guards, yet the survivors were then thrown to the jail. Some were returned to the original countries but some did not even have citizenships, they bring no papers at all. These remaining ones would be locked up in detention cells and received very little medication and foods.

They might think they were lucky enough to be alive, yet the problems did not stop there. After being released from the jail, they were thrown to the streets without anything in their possession. People did not give them jobs as they were sans papiers, they had no papers at all. They even had no place to sleep.

UNITED, a European network against nationalism, racism, fascism, and in support of migrants and refugees documented that the number of migrants died in Europe since 1993 has accounted for 8855 lives. They died mostly from drowning, starving, dehydration in the sea, asphyxiation while they hide inside lorries or containers, and even committing suicide out of frustration.

We might not know, or even bother to know, that there are thousands of people have died out there in the borders in their pursuit of happiness.