Patera Migration from West Africa to Spain : An Evaluation

For more than 20 years, thousands of African migrants have sailed to Spain from the African coast on unsafe rudimentary boats ("pateras" in Spanish) in order to enter EU territory without the need of legal permission. Many of those migrants have reached European land becoming irregular migrants. However, thousands of them have died drowned in the sea. This book takes into consideration economic, social and religious factors that propel West African migrants to undertake such a journey. It also provides a case study to evaluate the effectiveness and the ethicality of the current Spanish and EU policies to regulate the flux of Sub-Saharan African migrants to Europe. Finally, the analysis expounded on this work emphasises two underlying issues: On the one hand, migration policies are often intermingled with development policies; and, on the other hand, development policies can be weakened by vested interests. The book is tailored to policy-makers, researchers, professionals and the general public interested in the subject of migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to the EU; migration policies and development.