The G7 summit convened recently, and all the leaders in the group of seven focused their attention on the agenda of global migration issues on Friday, the second day of the summit. The seven esteemed leaders of leading industrial nations around the globe have gathered in a resort in Italy’s southern Puglia region.
The summit discussions focused on methods to decrease and desist global trafficking, along with increasing global investment from their side in the countries where most migrants are forced to immigrate due to life-threatening situations and harmful living conditions. Other topics involved in the discussion include the war in Gaza due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, ways to support Ukraine, climate change, the industrial policy of China and economic security related to it, and artificial intelligence.
At the beginning of the summer, European Council president Charles Michel established that tackling migration is a common challenge and established the route that they intend to take along with other members of the G7 is a coalition to fight against smugglers and criminal groups that abuse, immigrants and vulnerable people to make money and also create destruction in the regions and countries across the world.
Italy’s Long-Standing Focus on Migration
Migration is the special focus of the summit, especially for the host, Italy. Italy lies right on one of the border routes into the European Union, for most people, flee, war, and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, Africa, and Asia, putting it right at the center of global migration issues. Migration has been particularly focused on the Italian Premier, Georgia Meloni, who has a strong, hard stance on this issue. Meloni, who belongs to the right-wing side of politics in Italy, has been focusing on increasing investment and funding for many African nations. She believes it will reduce the pressure on migration to Europe.
She is also known for having a five-year-long deal with its neighbouring country, Albania, to host thousands of asylum seekers while Italy processes the applications. She was also a key figure in implementing and creating the ‘Mattei Plan’ in Africa, which is a strategy by which increased economic opportunities are expected, reducing migration to Europe.
Italy received almost 157,000 asylum seekers in 2023, out of which almost 2000 lost their lives or went missing as they tried to make it past the Mediterranean crossing. This year, Italy has already received almost 22,000 people by sea.
At the beginning of the conference, right at the summit opening on Thursday, the Italian Premier said that Italy “wanted to dedicate ample space to another continent that is fundamental to the future of all of us, which is Africa, with its difficulties, it’s opportunities,” already setting a certain focus to this issue.
“Linked to Africa, and not only to Africa, but there is also another fundamental issue that Italy has placed at the center of the presidency, which is the issue of migration, the increasingly worrying role that trafficking organizations are resuming, clearly exploiting the desperation of human beings,” she proceeded to say.
The US: Focusing on New Policies
The United States, too, has been focusing and struggling with a large number of migrants towards the Southern border, which continues to grow in number. Joe Biden, the President of the US, has introduced new policies to address this growing problem. This happened after he tried to get a bill to pass in Congress, which failed.
It is important to note that immigrant rights advocates filed lawsuits and complaints on Thursday due to the new policies, as they find them to be unjust and wrong. However, it is unclear if they will be able to take care of all the legal challenges that arise in the legal systems and the courts of the US when it comes to migration.
Conclusion
While the immigration industry is one of the largest in the world, the problem of illegal migration is the focus of most industrial countries, especially the ones that receive migration in heaps. We can expect changes in the laws of these countries that modify the existing migration systems and make them stronger, thus reducing the number of illegal immigrants that make it past their borders.
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