Note

Following increased militarisation and the multiplication of migration controls on the coasts of Mauritania, Morocco and Andalusia, the routes taken by migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have gradually moved eastwards. Today, Italy represents one of the main points of entry to the EU, via the sea, for migrants who depart from the Greek, Libyan and Tunisian coasts and to a lesser extent from Albania, Algeria and Egypt. Migrants who manage to cross the sea are usually arrested by Italian coast guards before reaching the continent and detained in huge camps with various functions: first aid, identity checks, deportations. As is also the case elsewhere in Europe, on the rest of Italian territory other camps serve to filter migrants already on the territory with a view to returning them to their country of origin.