In this feature, part of a series exploring trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the movement of migrants.
Migrants have been reaping rich dividends over the past decade in the Sahel, where military violence, terrorist attacks, and climate disasters have displaced three million people and led to growing numbers of others. to escape, according to a new threat assessment report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
External threats such as the crisis in Sudan are creating a “snowball effect” on the region, Mar Dieye, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Sahel, told UN News.
“Without stopping this fire that started from Sudan and then that has been released in Chad and other regions could be a global disaster that will cause many more migrants,” said Mr. Dieye, who also heads the UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) said. ).
Main migration routes in and to Mali (2020/2021)
‘We’ll take you anywhere’
Now, Mr. Dieye said, most of the trafficking takes place in ungoverned border areas where the State “is very weak”.
The new UNODC report identifies other drivers alongside solutions that include interviews with migrants and the criminals who transport them, showing how border violations are taking place in cities across the Sahel.
Many interviewees said that smugglers are cheaper and faster than regular migration, the report found. In Mali, where the monthly income is an average of $74, a passport is almost $100.
In Niger, a key informant said authorities could take three to four months to process the document.
“But with us, if you want, we will take you anywhere,” said the giver.
If you need a passport, a reporter in Mali said in the report, “I’ll get it in 24 hours.”
Due to border closures ordered by governments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across West Africa, at least 30,000 migrants are detained at the borders, according to the UN.
‘Cash-cash’ partnerships
The report points to corruption as both a motivation to use terrorists and a major enabler of the crime.
Migrants can earn around $1,400 a month, or 20 times the average income in Burkina Faso, according to UNODC.
“Lucky killers” can earn as much as $15,000 to $20,000 per month, a killer in Niger said in the report.
The level of cooperation with government officials is very basic, a trader in Mali explained, that “he has no fear of punishment from the authorities”, according to the report.
“I have never been worried by the authorities,” said the destroyer. “We are in a financial partnership.”
Recalling the events when they arrived at police checkpoints, a key informant interviewed in Niger shared his experience.
“You go to see them and give them their envelopes, but, if you don’t know anyone in the group, it is necessary to take the migrants out and put them on motorcycles to bypass the checkpoint,” the Tracker added.
Migrants sit on mattresses placed on the floor in a detention center in Libya.
Ever greater danger
The increased demand from men, women, and children seeking to escape the worsening violence and resulting increased food insecurity has fueled cross-border crime, according to UNODC.
Since the discovery in 2012 of the gold lacing region, UNODC said research points to mining sites, where women are sold for sex objects, and men are forced into indentured labor.
Attack routes have also become more secretive and diverse in attempts to avoid growing efforts by security forces, exposing refugees and migrants to even greater risks and dangers, according to the home- the agency.
Stemming the flow
All Sahel countries except Chad are parties to the Convention against the Trafficking of Migrants, which complements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and has enhanced exclusionary laws, the report said.
On the ground, operations are progressing, UNODC reported. Among the many examples cited in the report, a 2018 operation saw Niger police arrest the leaders and dismantle a highly organized network suspected of transporting thousands of migrants to Spain, including through Niger, Libya , and Algeria.
To build on these successes, UNODC recommended actions States can take to address migrant flows, address root causes, combat corruption, and create local employment opportunities. The agency also suggested that policies should include development and human rights measures.
A young migrant from Niger is being received at a UN-supported camp in Burkina Faso.
Uprooting reasons
For many UN agencies and Sahelian countries, cooperation is key. The efforts of the International Office of Migration (IOM) are ongoing with improving the lives of returning migrants and fostering new partnerships, including a recent agreement with the G5 Sahel Force, a national mission that aims to the stability of the area.
“For IOM, regional cooperation is essential to ensure safe, orderly, and regular migration and respond effectively to challenges,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino.
The new agreement provides an opportunity for inclusive, collective approaches that address the complex drivers of conflict, instability, and forced displacement, he said, adding that “finding such solutions will stand as a stepping stone in the processes There is total cooperation to improve conditions for the population. in the Sahel.”
A Mauritanian headscarf is traditionally produced, in a shop run by returning migrants.
Meanwhile, UNISS continues to work with all UN agencies and partner countries on such efforts as Generation Unlimited Sahel and help Sahelians to support their families, Mr. Dieye said, stressing that the current situation be “very concerned”.
“It will require a collective response,” he said. “No country can do it alone. I think this has to come on the level of the international community. After all, it is an international crime. “
What is the difference between immigrants and human trafficking?
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are two distinct but often interconnected crimes, according to the UNODC.
- While human trafficking aims to exploit a person, who may or may not be an immigrant, the purpose of smuggling is, by definition, to profit from facilitating illegal border crossing.
- Human trafficking may occur within the victim’s home country or in another country.
- Migrant smuggling often happens across national borders.
- Some migrants may begin their journey by agreeing to be brought into the country illegally, but end up as victims of human trafficking when they are tricked, coerced or forced into a situation of exploitation. later in the process, for example being forced to work for no or no. very little money to pay for their transportation.
- Criminals can both hunt and transport people, using the same routes and their means of transport.
- Undocumented migrants are not sure that their traffickers are not in fact human traffickers.
- Learn more about how UNODC is working to end migrant and human trafficking.
Migrants as Missionaries Volunteers in Senegal participated in a creative residency with Guy Régis Jr, Haitian actor and theater director, and Fatoumata Bathily, a Senegalese filmmaker.
