ND Expert: Turn tears for Mediterranean migrants into policy | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › ND Expert: Turn tears for Mediterranean migrants into policy ND Expert: Turn tears for Mediterranean migrants into policy Published: October 14, 2013 Author: Shannon Roddel More than 400 people have lost their lives in the past week after two boats, each carrying hundreds of Eritrean and Syrian refugees, capsized near the Italian island of Lampedusa — an increasingly tragic situation in the Mediterranean, as migrants travel from north Africa to southern Europe to escape persecution. “Immediate action is needed,” according to Maurizio Albahari, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, who says migrants trust smugglers, pay exorbitant costs and risk their lives on unseaworthy vessels to escape to better lives. “It is legally impossible for these people to reach Europe on planes and ferries,” says Albahari, who specializes in social-cultural anthropology and teaches on international migration, pluralism and European societies. “So, they risk the many dangers, including hundreds of miles of peril and years of exploitation in transit countries. They fall through the enormous cracks of a system that eventually may offer them asylum and that needs them for jobs.” Albahari says there is no single solution to help thousands of forced migrants from Eritrea, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, but there are feasible alternatives to the Mediterranean “chronicle of death.” “It’s time for an overhaul of immigration and asylum policy,” Albahari says. “The European Commission and member states need to break smugglers’ monopoly with funding, intelligence and police investigations. But, they also need ensure that smugglers’ services are unnecessary. For example, European and other diplomatic posts in Libya could offer the opportunity to apply for asylum or for temporary protection. This is feasible immediately, until more comprehensive provisions and political consensus can be achieved.” Read Albahari’s CNN.com op-ed on the migrant shipwrecks. Albahari’s forthcoming book is titled “Crimes of Peace: Mediterranean Migrations of Sovereignty and Salvation,” and he is the author of several publications on migration and religion in Italy and Europe. Contact: Maurizio Albahari, 574-631-7759 or malbahar@nd.edu Posted In: International Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related September 30, 2022 Nanovic Institute to welcome former President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 14, 2022 Apostolic nuncio to Great Britain to deliver the 2022 Keeley Vatican Lecture September 12, 2022 Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street … in different countries? For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn