ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the European Union’s extraterritorial bordering practices and policies along its southern periphery and beyond. It focuses in particular on the European Union (EU) and its member states’ evolving relationship with Libya and migration flows across the Central Mediterranean throughout the early 21st century. The EU, Italy, and Malta have pursued policies of containment in Libya despite the instability and violence in the country. The chapter begins by contextualising developments in Europe in relation to those in Australia, arguing that while the EU has been unable to establish extraterritorial detention and processing to the scale that Australia has in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, they have turned to other measures in attempts to deter and contain particular forms of mobility. Such measures include border enforcement through funding and cooperation with police and border guards in Libya and beyond, as well as tying development aid and trade deals to migration controls. While the evidence suggests that such measures do not deter migration, these policies and practices do make migrant journeys longer and more dangerous, while also hollowing out Europe’s commitment to refugee protection.
