At the Edge of Europe: the Phenomenon of Irregular Migration from Libya to Italy

Based on the outcomes of a field-research which allowed to interview 30 irregular migrants arrived by sea to Italy during the past few years, this chapter provides an overview on the human dimension of irregular migration From Libya to the European Union through the analysis of migrants’ experience, expectations, and relationships with both co-nationals and friends met during the trip and those who provided them ad hoc services aimed at facilitating the irregular trip itself: mediators, go-between, dallala, passeur, smugglers, etc. In this regard, the relationships existing between migrants and smugglers seem to resemble the typical client-service provider scheme although it is strongly influenced by a disproportionate power allocation. Due to their illegal status, the lack of information and suitable means for arranging the trip in an autonomous way, migrants are usually the weakest side of the relation, while their possibility to negotiate and define the conditions of that relationship very limited. Migrants’ stories not only relate dramatic individual experiences, but also ineluctably lead us to face the historical, social and political roots of their suffering, as well as the asymmetrical power structures which actually produce illegality, clandestinity and the condition of de-humanization to which irregular migrants are often confined. These narratives confirm that complex social phenomena, such as irregular migration, lie within an intricate web of relationships and dynamics that cannot be properly investigated without an adequate understanding of the crucial human dimension which can be best explored by assuming the perspective of the migrants themselves.