Italy: North Africa Mixed Migration Hub - Survey Snapshot - Italy | August 2016

ABOUT

• MHub is undertaking field surveys with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers along key migratory routes to build up a body of data over time and to map country and regional level mixed migration trends.
  
• This snapshot presents early survey findings of the profiles, intentions and experiences of those moving in mixed migration flows who have recently arrived in Italy in the last year.
  
• Though these findings cannot be considered statistically representative of the migration population, they do provide key insights into the migration process.
  

KEY FINDINGS

These findings are based on 211 interviews conducted between 3 March and 25 August in reception and transit centres in Turin, Asti, Milan, Bologna, Modena, Rome, Palermo, Trapani and Castellammare del Golfo.

ABUSES AND RISKS

• 68% of respondents reported witnessing the death of another during the course of their journey, the majority in Libya (42% of occurrences), followed by the Sahara Desert (38%) and the Mediterranean Sea (16%). The remaining 4% took place in other transit countries.
  
• 98.5% of respondents said that they would not encourage others to embark on the journey from Sub-Saharan Africa to Italy. Based on interviews, the most recurrent word associated with the journey is ‘death’, while the most common adjectives used are ‘deadly’, ‘horrible’, ‘painful’, ‘terrible’, ‘stressful’, ‘inhuman’, ‘unreasonable’, and ‘dangerous’.
  
• 48% of the respondents reported having experienced or witnessed human trafficking, 80% occurring in Libya. Those responsible are smugglers (41% - starts as smuggling and turns into a situation of trafficking), organized criminal groups or local bandits (30%), alleged “friends”, employers and other people facilitating the migrant journey (22%), local police (3%), rebel groups (2%) and not specified (2%).
  
• 95% of respondents suffered or witnessed some kind of abuse during his/her migration journey.
  
• With the exclusion of respondents that arrived by plane, 86% reported having suffered or witnessed physical abuse or torture, followed by detention (71%), robbery (61%), forced labour (55%), sexual abuse (50%), and destruction of documents (32%).
  

ROUTES

• Based on survey responses, the most common routes taken to Libya were through Niger (64%), Algeria (13%), and Sudan (12%).
  
• The Niger route was used by those originating from Central and Western Africa. Those who traveled through Algeria were from Mali (40%), and Cameroon (24%), Gambia (2%), Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Senegal (34%). 22% transited through Burkina Faso and/or Mali before arriving in Niger or Algeria.
  
• The average length of the journey through Niger and Libya to Italy was 13 months.
  
• 100% of respondents originating from the Horn of Africa transited through Sudan.
  
• 39% of respondents indicated they had not willingly chosen to cross the Mediterranean – of these, 15% reported having been coerced/forced by local bandits or soldiers and 24% reported being forced by traffickers/smugglers. 49% reported having been taken to the boat by a “friend”, employer, colleague, etc. without being adequately informed about what was going to happen.
  
• Based on respondent accounts, rubber boats can carry anywhere between 15 and 750 people, despite having an average capacity of 180.
  
• 45% of respondents did not directly pay for their boat journeys. 12% did not remember the sum paid for the journey. Amongst those who directly paid for the crossing (43% of respondents), 18% paid between 50 - 450 USD, 40% between 500 - 1000 USD, 30% between 1000 - 2000 USD, and the remaining 12% paid more than 2000 USD.
  
• One in four respondents declared that they had arrived in Libya after being persuaded by an assumed “friend”, sponsored by an alleged future employer, or taken by a trafficker against their will. Those sponsored by a “friend” or future employer were consistently told that Libya was a safe country with plenty of job opportunities. Once in Libya, specifically in Gatron – typically the first city of arrival– or in Benualit or Tripoli, migrants are frequently apprehended by local bandits.
  
• 99% left from Libya. Of these, 72% left from Tripoli and 8% from Zuwara.