borderline-europe started in March 2019 to put together information about the situation in the Central Mediterranean Sea for internal research reasons. In 2021 we decided to publish parts of the data via Social Media and on our website.

Here you can find our monthly Update on the situation in Italy "Scirocco - News in Brief" and further information on the situation of refugees and migrants in Italy.

In the course of the collective attempt to shut down its borders, the EU uses numerous means of deterrence to prevent people from seeking safety in Europe. The criminalisation of people on the move and those who are in solidarity with them has been a widespread strategy for years. In Italy, too, people are prosecuted under the charge of "aiding and abetting unauthorised entry".

The debate on migration is becoming increasingly polarised and politically instrumentalised. In a new series, borderline-europe is questioning widespread myths such as the supposed overburdening of the economy or the alleged increase in crime caused by migrants. Through evidence-based analyses and data-driven discussions, a differentiated, realistic understanding of migration is promoted and an informed dialogue is initiated, beyond misconceptions and stereotypes.

borderline-europe is involved in two very different MONITORING projects:

• In ‘Detention, illegalisation and the so-called CEAS reform in southern Italy’, the focus is on the implementation of the European Pact on Migration at the EU's external border. The project started in September 2024.
• "Invisible" is about the situation of refugees in Sicily.
• Mem.Med is a cooperation project between many entities that carefully focus on the people who have not made it through the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. borderline-europe supports the project through volunteers.

This brochure is the result of a panel discussion organized by borderline-europe and the Bildungswerk Berlin of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, in which experts from Libya, Sudan, and Niger highlighted the tragic impacts of European migration policies and the phenomenon of missing migrants.