By Fortress Europe

TRIPOLI – The iron door is closed. From the small loophole I see the faces of two African guys and one Egyptian. I can't stand the acrid smell coming from the holding cells. I ask them to move. Now I can see the whole room, three meters per eight. There are some thirty people inside. Piled one over the other. There are no beds, people sleep on the ground on some dirty foam mattresses. Behind, on the walls, somebody has written Guantanamo. But we are not in the U.S. base. We are in Zlitan, in Libya. And the detainees they are not suspected terrorists, but immigrants arrested south of Lampedusa.

By Marko Tapio Kananen / Newropeans Magazine (2009)

According to EU sources, around half a million immigrants enter the European Union illegally every year. In order to control this movement, the EU has increased its cooperation with sending and transit countries of migration. Through financial and technical aid the EU helps them to establish infrastructures and practices that should stem the flow of immigrants and thus create ‘buffer zones' around the EU. But are we aware of all the consequences of this 'external dimension' of migration management?