It is no doubt humiliating for Africans to turn to the European Union, the United States and the West for a desperate call to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of destitute African youths running away from their countries. But no! It has become too familiar of a story for the African to turn to others for rescue economically and politically. Since African leaders don’t seems to give a damn about the precious lives of their youths, one has little or no choice but to turn to alleged longtime adversaries who have been accused of looting the continents’ resources during colonialism. The facts of the matter however, are that Europe and the West have consistently shown far more care for the African people than their own leaders. This is manifested in the billions of aids money disburse to African governments and through Non-government organizations in addition to opening their borders to millions of African Migrants. Thus almost all African economies today are largely sustained by Western aid and remittances from its citizens living in the West.
One is then tempted to ask, what more can you ask of the EU, United Nations and the West to do for Africa that they have not done? What happens to “Africa for Africans and Europe for Europeans?” Well, the answer may depend on who you ask and in what context. It is not a hidden secret and is widely acknowledged that the main reason African youths are fleeing their countries in massive numbers is economic failures and political instability. Since Post-colonial African leaders’ economic and political visions and policies have failed to cater for the short and long term needs of their people; many Africans have no better options but to get out and search for economic prosperities and political stability to raise their families and live a better life.
It is precisely these dismal failed economic policies which are the consequences of political instability that have led to the massive exodus of young African’s including its most precious intellectual resources from the continent. Therefore any serious attempts to genuinely help the African youths and their families from engaging in these dangerous journeys which has already accounted for thousands of youths must look at the root cause of the problem. One of the major primary issues confronting African youths thus forcing them to sacrifice limbs through the back-way to enter Europe is lack of youth employment. Every year millions of African youths leave school, some drop out and cannot find any form of employment in their countries. The leaders are busy enriching themselves and strengthening their grip on to power more than enacting policies that cater to Youths Employment and training that will give the African youth the hope and economic opportunities for survival.
The situation has reached catastrophic level that the world especially Europe can no longer morally ignore. The European Union can immediately institute emergency policies and urge its member states to open their borders to these economic refugees. The United Nation can help set up economic refugee camps where youths will be transported and be trained in various skills. The millions of dollars given to African governments for economic aid can be diverted towards these camps to train these youths to become more productive in society. In fact training camps and employment opportunities can be established in various African countries to create youths’ employment thus minimize the number of young Africans leaving for Europe. The rationale behind such an initiative would be to minimize not only the massive loss of lives but also to ease the economic burden on host countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal which are already struggling.
Another initiative and investment that can be championed through the United Nations and with the help of the United States, China and other major economies is to organize a ‘World Youth Salvation forum’ where major donors would gather to raise funds for these catastrophic ventures by African youths. This effort would be similar to the G8 forum convened by Finance ministers of the World’s strongest economies in 2005. This push by Africans and other international institutions led to the cancellations of billions of dollars in debt to eligible African nations based on certain criteria. Workers comp attorneys from workerscompensationattorneyorangecounty.com have already handled a myriad of cases in CA. We remember fully well the push by “Jubilee 2000 and the HIPC Initiative? Remember the ‘Drop the Debt’ and “One” movement’s campaign in 2005? Live 8? Bono on the White House Lawn etc. There was a strong push for the United States government and other powerful nations to make a history for the world’s poorest nations. These are some of the most urgent actions that are needed to once again put pressure on the International community to address the urgent issue of disastrous youths migration through the ‘back way’ to Europe.
This time we believe the push must not only stop with the world economic powers, but massive pressure must be put on African governments to put the issue of youths employment and economic emancipation in the forefront of any bilateral relationship with African governments. Those dictatorial governments who hide behind false pretense in pushing youth agendas while they are limited to overnight parties and wasteful gathering. African leaders must be given the ultimatum to address youth issues from education, training to employment or risk losing economic and military aid. This threat must be followed by concrete actions to ensure there are measurable achievements. Any failure to comply with such orders must be consequential.
The world can no longer wait for Africa to produce a generation of Al-Qaida like indoctrinated youths who are lured and brainwashed into accepting extremism in place of hope and opportunities. The brutal Islamic State terrorists (ISIS) are a product of dictatorial regimes which held their nations hostage and neglected the plight and future of their youths. The thousands of young men and women fighting from Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia to Nigeria are a direct product of dictatorial regimes that only cared about themselves. Therefore to remedy the situation and to stop the massive loss of lives in the Mediterranean would only create a safe environment for a future force that would degenerate into hopeless forces fighting for survival. So open your borders Europe, call for an emergency forum United Nations and African leaders get your priorities in order to save one life too precious to lose. Yes African lives matters too…