Debates have flourished in recent years about whether the NGO-led rescue vessels in the Mediterranean create a pull-factor and encourage more migrants to attempt the risky journey across the Mediterranean. The connection between aid to migrants and the fear of creating a pull-factor is , and constitutes one of the central elements in refugee reception policies in many host countries across the world. It has also been an element in European refugee reception policies for many years, and has become particularly pregnant in recent years , and the debate around the rescue operations at sea.
Jumbert, Maria Gabrielsen (2020) The 鈥減ull factor鈥�: How it became a central premise in European discussions about cross-Mediterranean migration, Border Criminologies. 24 March.
