The new initiative, which has already been joined by nearly 30 countries, is spreading on social media.
“No way – Don’t make Europe your home” has started a social media campaign to draw Europeans’ attention to illegal immigration. The campaign also includes an illustration depicting a boat full of migrants in stormy seas.
According to the image shared on X, nearly 30 European countries have already joined the campaign, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria.
This is the solution. If you agree, publish this pic.twitter.com/yy3kq1OXVi
– RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) October 12, 2023
The campaign follows as a model the media campaign launched by the Australian government in 2014 with the same slogan. The goal of the Australian authorities was to deter illegal immigrants. “Don’t waste your money – human traffickers are lying. The Australian government has instructed the Australian Defense Force to return the boats to where it is safe to do so,” the Australian campaign website said.
“The message is simple, anyone who comes to Australia illegally on a boat will never have a way to become an Australian citizen,” General Campbell, the country’s border commander, said of the campaign at the time.
In practice, migrants trying to enter the country by sea are either escorted by boat to the port from which they came, or – more commonly – the migrants are transported to migrant camps on the islands of Nauru and Manus in Papua New Guinea. .
Of course, this was not the first surprising proposal to curb illegal immigration. In 2018, for example, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister at the time, suggested importing a “quiet solution” to the migrant crisis.
The program was supposed to follow Australia’s tough immigration policy.