Inviting Europe

Burhan and Mariam's story begins in an unspectacular manner. A man and a woman meet, fall in love, want to marry and have children. They dream of a future together – in their homeland of course, where their families and friends are. But Burhan and Mariam's home country happens to be Somalia.

There has been civil war in Somalia since the early 1990s. There is no functioning government - just local clans and Islamists fighting for power.

"There were so many bad battles with lots of dead," Burhan said.

One night radical Islamists from the al-Shabab group robbed the house of Mariam's family. They killed her father.

The main thing is Europe

"Then all we wanted was to get away," said Burhan. Their destination: Europe - which country didn't matter.

"We only knew Europe from the TV," Burhan added. "For me, it was synonymous with safety, prosperity and health care."

They made their way to Libya and then climbed into an inflatable dinghy with 80 other refugees. Their dangerous crossing to Malta took seven days. From there they went on to Sweden and eventually Germany.

"War and violence are a significant cause for migration," said Karl Kopp from the refugee organization Pro Asyl (Pro Asylum). "Very few refugees, however, head for Europe or Germany." More than 80 percent stay in the vicinity of their country of origin.

Some 215 million people do not live in their country of origin, according to United Nations estimates. That is about 3 percent of the world's population. Only 15 million of those people are refugees, and most pf them decide to migrate for economic reasons.

"Unemployment and poverty in their home country are the main reasons to migrate," said Susanne Schmid, a sociologist from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. "The prospect of better pay in the destination country is another strong attraction. Economic reasons are push as well as pull factors."

Within the European Union Spain and Italy are currently the countries with the highest economic pull due to a shortage of unskilled labor.

What are the costs of migration?

Schmid said ecological risks have emerged as another driver of migration.

"Some regions globally will, because of climate change, be more affected by environmental catastrophes," she said, adding that Europe should prepare to deal with growing numbers of climate and environmental migrants.

The choice of destination country is based on several factors including the cost of transit and the likelihood of gaining a work permit. But most of all a country will be selected because of social networks.

"Migrants like to go where they already have relatives or friends," said Kopp from Pro Asyl. In addition to language, the colonial history of many African nations means many migrants heading to Europe feel most comfortable in Belgium or France, for example.

"Here our lives are safe"

Should you want to influence migration on a political level, sociologist Schmid said, you'll have focus on the reasons to leave.

"We have to improve the living conditions in the long term for the people in the countries of origin through education and good governance," she said, adding that most immigrants would prefer to stay in their home countries if possible.

That is the way Burhan and Mariam feel too. In the meantime they have married and had a son. They have a residence permit based on humanitarian reasons and are allowed to stay in Germany.

"We are happy about that, because here our lives are safe," Burhan said. "But should there be peace in our home Somalia, then we would return."

Author: Monika Dittrich / sc
Editor: Sam Edmonds