In a mere decade, the face of Europe has been dramatically transformed – but not for the better. Border walls and fences encircling European nations have surged by an alarming 75%, according to a Guardian analysis. As the continent grapples with an influx of migrants and refugees, EU leaders have increasingly turned to hardline measures and unsavory alliances to stem the tide, erecting a virtual fortress across the Mediterranean to keep desperate souls from reaching European shores.
This disturbing trend marks a stark departure from the EU’s founding principles of human rights, dignity, and freedom – values that now seem to be crumbling under the weight of political expediency and rising xenophobia. Mark Townsend, the Guardian’s senior global development reporter, takes a sobering look back at a decade in which Europe has militarized its borders and turned its back on the ideals that once defined it.
The Rise of Fortress Europe
The numbers paint a chilling picture: in 2009, Europe had around 1,000 km of border walls and fences in place. By 2019, that figure had soared to nearly 1,750 km – a 75% increase in just ten years. But these physical barriers tell only part of the story. Equally troubling has been the EU’s growing willingness to strike deals with autocratic regimes and beef up security measures to keep migrants at bay.
One of the most controversial examples is the EU’s 2016 agreement with Turkey, in which Ankara agreed to take back “irregular migrants” who had crossed into Greece in exchange for billions in aid and other concessions. Human rights groups slammed the deal as a cynical attempt to outsource Europe’s migration challenges to a country with a dubious human rights record.
By striking dodgy deals with the likes of Turkey, Sudan, and Libya to stem migration flows, the EU has created a virtual border across the Mediterranean – one that keeps vulnerable people in harm’s way and betrays Europe’s promise of protection for the persecuted.
– Yuri Gavrilov, a Human Rights expert
Similar agreements have been struck with other countries on Europe’s periphery, from Libya to Sudan – states known for human rights abuses, political instability, and corruption. The result has been a shifting of Europe’s borders southward, creating a buffer zone that keeps migrants and asylum seekers far from European territory – and European accountability.
Militarizing the Mediterranean
Nowhere is Europe’s hardening stance on migration more evident than in the Mediterranean Sea, once a bridge between continents, now a heavily patrolled moat. In recent years, the EU has poured millions into beefing up its border security agency, Frontex, which now deploys ships, planes, and drones to monitor the Mediterranean and intercept migrant vessels.
Critics argue that these measures have not only failed to stem the flow of migrants but have actively contributed to the soaring death toll at sea. By closing off legal routes to asylum and cracking down on humanitarian rescue missions, Europe has left desperate people with no choice but to risk their lives on ever more perilous journeys.
The militarization of the Mediterranean has had deadly consequences. By shutting out asylum seekers and criminalizing those who seek to help them, Europe bears responsibility for the thousands of lives lost at sea.
– Representative from Doctors Without Borders, the prominent humanitarian organization
The Human Cost of Closed Borders
Behind the statistics and political wrangling lie countless human stories of suffering, resilience, and shattered dreams. Migrants and asylum seekers who have risked everything to reach Europe’s shores often find themselves trapped in squalid camps, detained indefinitely, or deported back to the very danger they fled.
Europe’s increasingly hostile climate has taken a particularly heavy toll on children, many of whom have endured unimaginable trauma only to find themselves languishing in overcrowded facilities or separated from their families. Mental health experts warn of a looming crisis among young refugees, compounded by Europe’s failure to provide adequate support and protection.
“I didn’t feel like a human being anymore. I was just a number, a problem to be gotten rid of.” – Fatima, a 16-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, on her experience in a European detention center. #RestoreEuropasValues
— Mark Townsend (@markagworld) November 7, 2024
Betraying Europe’s Promise
Perhaps most troubling of all is the way in which Europe’s hardening borders have betrayed the very values on which the EU was founded. The right to asylum, enshrined in international law and championed by European leaders in the wake of World War II, is now more honored in the breach than in practice.
As xenophobia and far-right populism gain ground across the continent, the idea of Europe as a beacon of human rights and a haven for the persecuted is increasingly being called into question. In the words of one retired senior EU official, “We have lost our way. We have forgotten what Europe stands for.”
Europe once prided itself on being a champion of human rights and dignity. But in the face of the migrant crisis, those values have been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. We must do better.
– A prominent European human rights lawyer, who wished to remain anonymous
As Europe looks to the future, it is clear that a fundamental reckoning is in order. Will the continent continue down the path of militarized borders and outsourced responsibility, or will it rediscover the values of compassion, solidarity, and human dignity that once defined it? The answer to that question will shape not only the lives of millions of migrants and refugees, but the very soul of Europe itself.
