The tiny, picturesque Italian island of Lampedusa is at the epicentre of the European migration crisis. The island sits between the Italian mainland and North Africa and has seen huge numbers of African migrants making the crossing from Tunisia and Libya.
Many of the 6,000 residents of Lampedusa are worried about the effects of the influx on their future – the island relies heavily on tourism – but they also know that what they are witnessing is part of a crisis which will not be solved overnight. They are overwhelmed by the constant arrivals, with little concrete action from Europe’s politicians.
A week after more than 11,000 migrants arrived on this tiny Italian island, we watched as the final batch of 101 mainly young men from sub-Saharan Africa left to board a ferry to the Italian mainland.
This boat trip will be a far cry from the perilous 200-mile journey they undertook – in a small boat – at the mercy of the Mediterranean Sea.
A journey many don’t survive. More than 1,800 have died trying to get across so far this year. It is a seemingly never-ending cycle in the mass movement of people across this sea.
The Italian Red Cross runs the main migrant reception centre on Lampedusa and they’ve been drafting in additional support to deal with the next surge in arrivals.
The chaos of the last surge is still fresh in their minds, where at one point, 7,000 people were crammed into this compound, many clashing with police as they tried to leave.
The woman in charge of the reception centre, Serena Corniglia, says the volunteers here felt powerless to help.
She told us: “It’s very difficult to give the level of support needed. But we try to give food, to give kit, to give psychological support and health support. We’ve tried to take care of all the people inside the centre.”
There are real concerns here on Lampedusa that the tourist trade, the lifeblood of this island community, could begin to dry up if a solution isn’t found soon to the crisis. And you don’t have to look far for evidence of its impact here.
Near the entrance to the port, a migrant boat lies beached on the rocks, a gaping hole in its hull, the personal belongings of its human cargo hanging over the sides.
Inside the harbour, dozens of other migrant boats that made it here in recent days, are tied up, awaiting removal, many still full of tyre inner tubes, used by the migrants as makeshift lifejackets.
Further along the quayside, fishermen unload the last of their catch for local restaurants. The winds that have kept the migrant boats away for several days have also forced the fishermen back to port.
Giacomo Minio is one of them and he says the migrant boats are severely impacting the livelihoods of the island’s fishermen.
“When we encounter a migrant boat, we call the authorities. They tell us to wait, not to do anything. Then the coastguard arrives or the police patrol. But it means we’re financially ruined. It’s a mess. Our work is badly affected. It’s too much.”
Unlike the vast majority of African migrants, who want to head to mainland Europe, Talla Diouf has made a life for himself here in Lampedusa, working in a bar. The Senegalese national says the huge flow of fellow migrants onto this island is simply unsustainable.
“The government must find a solution as quickly as possible because this Island has 6,300 inhabitants. Then if 11,000 of my brothers come it’s a big problem. We have to find a solution quickly because nothing will be done until next summer.”
But in reality, there is no imminent solution. The flow of migrants shows no signs of slowing down. Since the start of the year, more than 118,500 sea migrants have landed on Italian shores.
The migrants we saw leaving Lampedusa are heading for the mainland, but this is not just an Italian problem, it’s a Europe-wide crisis. Many here will eventually head north, some to the coast of northwest France, and onto another boat, this time, across the English Channel.
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