AK calls for a rethink

Can mass migration still be stopped?

Boat refugees in the Mediterranean

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

Mass migration from the South to the North is making heads spin in Europe and America. Closing borders alone is not enough. The causes of migration must be tackled. Almost everyone now agrees on this. On the occasion of the UN Climate Change Conference, the Chamber of Labor addressed the climate crisis as a cause of flight.

The AK is hosting a public event on this topic on November 11. For over 30 years, the EU has invested a lot of money in sealing off borders without a lasting reduction in flight and migration movements, criticizes the Chamber of Labour. In the short period from 2021 to 2024 alone, the annual budget of the border protection agency Frontex was increased from 693 million euros to 922 million euros, but illegal migration was not reduced.

Asylum seekers in Germany

(Bild: APA/AFP/Odd ANDERSEN)

There are currently 108 million people on the run
Money has even been diverted from disaster and development aid and spent on border protection instead. "Money that should actually support countries in improving the situation of people so that they don't have to flee in the first place," says the AK. The actual causes of flight are generated by an unjust global system. For example, the number of people on the move worldwide has risen from 82.4 million to 108 million since 2020, as global inequality and the increasing impact of the climate crisis are causing further conflicts.

The industrialized countries' hunger for oil is driving people away
A good example is Nigeria: on paper, it is one of the richest countries on the African continent. The country is the largest economy in Africa. Paradoxically, it is precisely the wealth of raw materials that is causing migration movements within Africa and to Europe. In the resource-rich regions, the Nigerian government is taking land away from the inhabitants for oil production - just as it did during British colonial rule. The Nigerian elite and transnational companies benefit, while the plundered regions and their inhabitants receive none of the profits and are left behind with the devastating consequences of oil production.

Investments in fossil energy

In 2022, European oil companies made 70 percent higher profits on average than in the previous year. At the same time, according to Greenpeace, an average of 92.7% of their investments went towards maintaining fossil fuel infrastructure and further oil and gas extraction.

Climate catastrophe as one of the causes of the civil war in Syria
Syrians are currently the largest group of refugees in Europe. A civil war has been raging in Syria for many years. 13 million people have left the country. In 2011, the military brutally crushed civil society protests for democracy and freedom and against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. This triggered a spiral of violence that continues to this day. What many people do not know is that the man-made climate catastrophe, which is being fueled by corporations and the governments of rich industrial nations, is also contributing to the conflict. Two major droughts in particular have driven people from the countryside to the cities, leading to a massive escalation of social conflicts.

AK calls for expansion of supply chain law
In spring 2024, the EU member states agreed on a supply chain directive that holds companies more accountable if their activities cause harm to people or the environment. Now it is time to gradually reduce the generous exemptions in this directive.

"Profits at the cost of human lives must not be a business model." The next federal government must pass a climate protection law and the EU Commission must not soften the climate protection targets, according to the demands of the employee representatives. The AK also reiterates the demand for a reduction in working hours with full wage compensation, as productivity has risen by half in recent years and the resulting profits have made the rich richer.