Press review of may 2016 on migration in West Africa
English
Nigeria: Rural-Urban Drift
When this reporter briefly visited his hometown in Ekiti SW Local Government Area of Ekiti State recently, it was glaring that the youths of the town had left in droves for destinations unknown in their quest for greener pasture. While some fortunate ones have relocated abroad, most end up in the urban centres, putting pressure on the over-stretched public infrastructure and utilities.(Read more)
Nigeria: NAPTIP rescues 152 victims of human trafficking
Mr Joseph Famakin, the Lagos Zonal Commander of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), says that the agency has rescued 152 victims of human trafficking. (Read more)
Niger: IOM records over 60,000 migrants passing through Agadez
Through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), IOM has recorded a total of 60,970 migrants passing through the transit towns of Arlit and Séguédine in the Agadez region of Niger between February and April 2016. Of this total, 44,890 were recorded leaving Niger, while 16,080 were migrants entering the country. Niger is a transit country for West African migrants travelling to and from Algeria and Libya. (Read more)
African migration: More opportunities than challenges?
International Migration in Africa: Framing the Issues published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) argues that while irregular migration from Africa to Europe has received extensive attention in reality intra-African migration dominates the flow of African migrants. (Read more)
The back way to Europe: Gambia’s forgotten refugees
Yet in the tumultuous landscape of European refugee politics today, irregular migrants from West Africa are at the bottom of the food chain, most likely to be dismissed as ‘economically’ driven migrants searching for a better life. In fact, the distinction between a refugee and other irregular migrants coming from the Gambia is hard to maintain in a country where a lack of democracy is accompanied by governance failures impacting the entire country on a political as well as economic level. (Read more)
‘Push’ factor drives migrants away from Libya to Europe
Deaths at sea have risen ninefold since October 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) charity. So why do they still come?Is it the “pull factor” – are the migrants “pulled” in the direction of Europe by the belief they will be picked up by rescue missions like the one I joined?Or is there, in fact, an even stronger “push factor”? Are the migrants being pushed out of countries such as Libya by living conditions so horrific that even the possibility of drowning at sea seems preferable? (Read more)
EU to launch talks with Nigeria to take back migrants
“The European Commission has just proposed opening negotiations with Nigeria on a readmission agreement,” Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told a press conference. “This agreement aims to ensure a rapid and effective process for identifying and returning Nigerian nationals who do not have the right to stay in the European Union.” (Read more)
Italian delegation visits The Gambia
An Italian delegation comprising experts from the Italian Scientific Police and International Cooperation recently visited the Ministry of the Interior in The Gambia as follow-up to enhancing their cooperation on combating irregular migration. (Read more)
Nigeria partners European Union on border security
The Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) has announced that Nigeria would collaborate with the European Union (EU) on how to apply technology in securing the country’s porous and vast borders. (Read more)
Neven Mimica on migration: Off-track or off the beaten path?
The European Commission’s aid portfolio in West Africa is “pivoting” toward migration, he told the African Leaders Summit in Dakar. But the new 1.8 billion euro ($2.05 billion) EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, he said, is an opportunity to “accelerate the Commission’s current efforts in West Africa,” which, together with EU partners, amount to about 1.2 billion euros for the period until 2020, not including the new fund. (Read more)
Niger looks to Europe to solve its migration crisis
Nigerien leaders have asked the European Union for one billion euros to tackle a wide-scale migration problem, according to Reuters. Niger is using a transit route by many West African migrants in order to reach the EU. Niger is one of the world’s poorest countries and has been the target of repeated attacks by terrorist organizations. (Read more)
Tackling African migration problem
The theme for the second intra-regional forum on migration in Africa is “Fostering Regional Integration: Facilitating Trade and Human Mobility through Enhanced Border Management”. The specific objective of the Lusaka meeting is to contribute to enhancing capacities of African institutions to facilitate intra-regional migration, human mobility and free movement of goods and services through improved integrated border management in response to AU decisions, policies and declarations on migration and development in Africa. (Read more)
Nigeria: Check migration of health workers, WHO urges the Federal Government
The World Health Organisation, WHO, has called on both the Federal and state governments to, as a matter of national interest, check the migration of trained health workers to other countries with a view to curbing its underlying negative effect on the health sector. (Read more)
Nigeria’s Government must ensure a balanced response to the pastoralist-settler crisis
There have been long-standing tensions between nomadic pastoralist Fulanis, one of the dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria and the ruling class of much of the north, and their settled counterparts, centred on the use of land for grazing livestock. But recently, the frequency and intensity of the violence has increased, causing alarm and potentially spurring a dangerous securitized approach to the clashes that could wreak havoc on Nigeria’s fragile economy and have devastating consequences for the majority of peaceful Fulanis. (Read more)
Nigeria: EU urges West Africa to encourage intra-migration
The leader of an EU delegation to Nigeria, Ambassador Michel Arrion, said this at a meeting with the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Mrs Abike Dabiri Erewa. Speaking in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Mr Arrion pointed out that there were more economic opportunities for educated people in Africa than Europe. (Read more)
The Routes less travelled: Irregular migration to the EU
As the EU–Turkey deal comes into effect, the likely result will be the emergence of new migratory routes, or the reactivation of older ones, such as the West African Route, which connects various countries to the Spanish Canary Islands. (Read more)
Africa’s Great Green Wall could halt youth migration, extremism
A project to plant a wall of trees stretching across Africa aims not only to halt desertification, but also to improve food security, create jobs, and offer young people an alternative to migration and extremism, environmental experts said (Read more)
Ghana: ICT Centre established at Ghana Immigration Service training school
The Ghana Immigration Service Training School at Assin Fosu in the Central Region now has an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre to facilitate effective practical teaching and learning. The 70-seater facility which was fully funded by the European Union (EU) at the cost of $130,511 is fitted with a projector for lectures and illustration, and connected to the internet. (Read more)
More Ghanaians living abroad unregistered
Ghana’s Foreign Ministry is worried about the unregistered Ghanaian migrants abroad, especially in Europe, sector minister Ms Hannah Tetteh said in an interview.She cited the case of the Netherlands which has only 20,000 Ghanaian residents registered with the Ghanaian embassy. She said Germany, which is supposed to have a higher number of migrants, had 70,000 registered with the country’s embassy, out of which about half had dropped their Ghanaian nationality to become German citizens, because Germany does not allow dual citizenship.(Read more)
FRANCAIS
Sommet Italie-Afrique: Les pays africains prêts à soutenir le plan italien de lutte contre les migrations clandestines
C’est l’une des résolutions phares prises lors du premier sommet Italie – Afrique, qui s’est tenu à Rome. Une quarantaine de pays africains y ont pris part. Mais selon ces derniers, le succès d’un tel plan passe par la résolution de la crise libyenne.“Nous avons beaucoup de jeunes Sénégalais qui partent pour la Libye, à partir du Niger, qui attendent la moindre occasion pour embarquer dans des pirogues de fortune, pour rallier l’Europe. Là aussi, il faut qu’on travaille davantage sur la situation sécuritaire en Libye. Stabiliser la Libye, faire revenir l‘État en Libye, et ça nous permettra également de lutter contre l’immigration irrégulière clandestine”, a déclaré Mankeur N’Diaye, ministre sénégalais des Affaires étrangères. (Lire l’article)
Côte d’ivoire: Migration du travail – Les dirigeants syndicaux ivoiriens renforcent leurs capacités
Les acteurs de la plate-forme des centrales syndicales sur la migration en Côte d’Ivoire (Pcsm-Ci) ont bénéficié d’un atelier de formation pour acquérir une meilleure connaissance sur les questions de la migration. Placé sous le thème: « Renforcement des capacités des dirigeants syndicaux sur la gouvernance de la migration du travail », cet atelier a été organisé en partenariat avec la Fondation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Fes) du 12 au 13 mai 2016, à Abidjan-Plateau. (Lire l’article)
Immigration clandestine par la mer: La jeunesse africaine en discute à Lomé en septembre
«Une jeunesse à la mer : quelles alternatives pour une sortie de crise en Afrique? ». C’est le thème qui va réunir dans le mois de septembre, des jeunes leaders africains venus de toutes les région du continent. Ils seront au total 220 jeunes leaders africains à faire le déplacement de Lomé dans le cadre de la West African Young Leaders Summit (WAYLS), attendez Sommet des Jeunes Leaders d’Afrique de l’Ouest. (Lire l’article)
Mali : Problématique de la migration – L’Association Malienne des Expulsés engage le débat
La migration irrégulière est un phénomène qui préoccupe plus d’un. Malgré les nombreuses morts, les disparitions qu’elle cause, des maliens, à la recherche du mieux être, frappés par le non assouplissement des conditions de délivrance de visas, ne renoncent pas de passer par cette voie au risque de leur vie. Soucieuse de cette situation qui a engendré la mort des centaines de morts maliens sur l’eau en 2015, l’Association Malienne des Expulsés (AME) a organisé le 14 mai 2016 une journée d’échange et de concertation sur la problématique de la migration. (Lire l’article)
Togo: une charte africaine sur la sécurité maritime en préparation
Le ministre togolais des Affaires étrangères, Robert Dussey, a rencontré vendredi 13 mai, à Paris, son homologue français Jean-Marc Ayrault, pour évoquer notamment avec lui le sommet extraordinaire des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement prévu, en octobre prochain, à Lomé. Au programme de ce sommet figure la signature d’une charte sur la sécurité maritime, une première dans l’histoire africaine. Pour le ministre togolais Robert Dussey, il s’agit d’un enjeu majeur pour la sécurité du continent. (Lire l’article)
Au Sénégal, des actions concrètes contre l’envie de partir
L’UE européenne a récemment débloqué huit millions d’euros pour un programme chargé de combattre « les causes profondes » de la migration dans la région de Matam. Longtemps, l’immigration irrégulière y a été une solution pour pallier aux difficultés financières des ménages. Ce financement s’inscrit dans la volonté de l’UE de diminuer le nombre de migrants en provenance de la région, souvent qualifiés d’économiques, par rapport à des migrants syriens qui fuient la guerre. (Lire l’article)
Togo: Reconnaître le rôle de la régionalisation informelle
‘Je voudrais réaffirmer l’engagement du gouvernement à accorder aux étrangers vivant au Togo, la pleine jouissance de leurs droits en matière d’intégration sous-régionale et continentale’. C’est en ces termes que Robert Dussey, le ministre des Affaires étrangères, a ouvert mardi à Lomé la Semaine de l’intégration africaine. (Lire l’article)
Sénégal: Le comité de l’ONU suggère la construction d’un centre de rétention
Le Conseil consultatif national des droits de l’Homme (Ccndh) a organisé hier un atelier de restitution sur le respect des droits des travailleurs migrants au Sénégal. Lors de son passage devant le Comité des Nations unies pour la protection des travailleurs migrants et des membres de leur famille à Genève, il lui a été notifié l’importance de la mise sur pied d’un centre de rétention pour les travailleurs migrants en situation irrégulière et de permettre aux retraités migrants de récupérer leur pension sans se déplacer. (Lire l’article)