Rich countries cannot buy their way out of migration crisis

Another week and yet another plan to reduce migration to Europe comes to life. But I am not sure any nation can pay their way to stemming the flow of people determined to make it to somewhere safe — whether for legitimate reasons or otherwise — in a bid to change their life and destiny.

Migration is today a source of political instability in many Western countries. It has become the step ladder on which the extreme right and populist politicians are climbing to power or amplifying the failures of the state, while offering no substantial, valid remedies to the problems.

From Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations if he returns to power in the US to Italy trying to block refugees from departing from Africa and building new centers to process would-be immigrants in Albania. Now Sweden, a long-term haven for the war-weary and persecuted, has decided to start paying migrants who are willing to leave the Scandinavian country.

Sweden was for decades seen as something of a humanitarian superpower, but over recent years it has struggled to integrate many of its newcomers. Its anti-immigration right-wing government last week announced its willingness to pay 350,000 Swedish krona ($34,000) to those willing to voluntarily return to their countries of origin. With this, it has become the latest nation hoping to start a major shift in its migration policy due to what it describes as an inability to welcome and support a large number of arrivals.

Sweden’s conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson came to power in 2022 at the head of a minority coalition government propped up by the right-wing Sweden Democrats, vowing to get tough on immigration and crime. The hope is that the financial incentive will appeal to some of the several hundred thousand migrants who are either long-term unemployed or whose income is so low that they need state benefits to survive. But this is very simplistic and shows ignorance of why so many people choose to migrate or apply for asylum in the first place.

Most of Sweden’s immigrants are from conflict-ridden countries, such as the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran and Iraq. In 2015 alone, at the height of the migration crisis in Europe, Sweden took in 160,000 asylum seekers, the highest per capita in the EU. But not all of them came because they were being persecuted at home — many simply wanted to use any excuse in the book to access life in a free country, with a generous welfare state to fall back on if their endeavor to integrate and build a new life faltered.

In Europe generally, the go-to solution for nations struggling to cope with migrant arrivals seems to be to throw money at the problem. Though that has produced some results at certain times, with the number of new arrivals dropping, this has only lasted until the migrants find new routes or new people smugglers to help them reach their destination.

This is very simplistic and shows ignorance of why so many people choose to migrate or apply for asylum in the first place

Mohamed Chebaro

Money paid as aid to help third countries cope with hosting refugees offered some Western countries respite at times, but that never managed to stem the flow completely. The billions of euros the EU paid to Turkiye to help it deal with the Syrian refugee crisis did not, for example, prevent more than a million refugees, mostly Syrians, from arriving in Germany in 2015. The UK, meanwhile, is spending millions attempting to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Italy has this year seen a 64 percent reduction in the number of new arrivals from Africa after focusing on dealing with the problem “upstream,” since a naval blockade tactic failed to stop boats loaded with refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has pioneered outsourcing deals with authoritarian governments and failed states, which have allegedly engaged in illegal collective deportations and abused refugees seeking to reach Europe.

Italy, along with the rest of Europe, has continued to turn a blind eye to the activities of corrupt, brutal militias in Libya that are also charged with controlling migration flows.

Even Lebanon, the small country suffering political, economic and social meltdown, has received aid in return for preventing large numbers of people departing by sea to Cyprus. This is especially important for Europe because Lebanon hosts a large number of Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

Being paid the equivalent of $34,000 could be a handsome return for any refugees in Sweden that have reached a dead end. But they are a very small minority and no amount of money is likely to be enough to lure most away from a life that has given them access to a welfare state, a house, education and healthcare for their loved ones.

The issues of migration, asylum, economic migration and human trafficking have been plaguing the mainly rich Western world and there are no easy solutions. This is a time when nations are suffering from aging populations, reduced birth rates and dwindling resources.

The solution that still eludes most of these nations is their failure to offer a fair and accessible application system that could sift through millions of applicants annually. These same countries also often lack an agile vetting system to monitor and apprehend those who abuse the system or play it to their advantage.

Once new arrivals have been granted the right to remain, countries still fail to provide them with adequate orientation that might turn them into well-integrated, productive citizens who understand the rights and duties governing their new life. This is one reason for the increased communal hostilities and toxic narratives plaguing the immigration debate.

Until such a day, it is unlikely that a refugee or economic migrant will want to take a one-off cash payment and return to a less certain life and face unemployment and insecurity. Until further notice, certain nations will continue to be much-desired destinations for people who are ready to do anything — even risk their lives in small boats, be fleeced of their life savings by human traffickers or, in some extreme cases, face modern slavery — in return for a path to the shores of Europe or the US.

• Mohamed Chebaro is a British Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.