Lampedusa, an italian island that lies closer to Tunisia than Italy has been the focus of a wave of migration this year following the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and the campaign to overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

Although boats of migrants landing on the small island is not a new phenomenon, when NATO began its bombardment of Libya, Gaddafi vowed to, ‘unleash an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration on Europe’. So far this has seen as many as 48,000 people arrive on Lampedusa whose population usually hovers around the 6,000 mark. Inhabitants have claimed this to having a detrimental effect on tourism with many feeling let down by the way the Italian government has handled the situation. 

A recent agreement was made between Italy and Tunisia to repatriate all migrants landing on Italian soil, however this has not deterred many migrants from attempting the perilous journey across the ocean. 

This is the first chapter in what I hope to be my final third year project, looking at migration routes through Europe.