{"id":1316,"date":"2023-05-08T04:28:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T04:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.borderforensics.org\/?post_type=investigation&p=1316"},"modified":"2024-04-02T08:19:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T08:19:21","slug":"niger-investigation","status":"publish","type":"investigation","link":"https:\/\/www.borderforensics.org\/ar\/investigations\/niger-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Accomplished? The Deadly Effects Of Border Control In Niger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In 2017 there is a significant increase in the presence of tracks far away from the main road and beyond the dehydration threshold. This means that in 2017 a higher number of vehicles traveled in areas where they were exposed to increasingly dangerous conditions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On May 26, 2015, the Parliament of Niger adopted Law No. 2015-36 on Illegal Trafficking of Migrants, which resulted in a repressive and security-based approach to migration management. The law was drafted under the auspices of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with financial support from Italy and Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First Page of Law 2015-036<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Migrant services providers (transporters, hosts, brokers, etc.) who had until then operated in broad daylight as part of a socially and economically essential cross-Saharan infrastructure of mobility, were suddenly criminalised and threatened by harsh penalties and imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New forms of border control were established, with the financial and technical support of EU institutions and Member States seeking to stem migration across the Sahara. In the years that have followed, thousands of incidents of migrant deaths and disappearances have been recorded in northern Niger. Transport drivers \u2013 now characterized as negligent and greedy smugglers – were blamed for the increase in deaths and disappearances by the Nigerien government and news media, as well EU agencies such as Frontex. As a result of its tough stance, Niger has been erected as a model in terms of \u201ccombating the illicit traffic of migrants\u201d.1<\/a><\/sup>Le Sahel, Mme Gog\u00e9 Ma\u00efmouna Gazibo, Directrice g\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l\u2019Agence Nationale de Lutte contre la traite des personnes et le trafic illicite des migrants (ANLTP\/TIM) : \u00ab Notre pays fait partie des pays qui luttent, le mieux, contre la traite des personnes et le trafic illicite des migrants \u00bb, 27 septembre 2019, available at : http:\/\/www.lesahel.org\/mme-goge-maimouna-gazibo-directrice-generale-de-lagence-nationale-de-lutte-contre-la-traite-des-personnes-et-le-trafic-illicite-des-migrants-anltp-tim-notre-pays-fait-partie\/<\/a><\/span> The government of Niger and its international partners have developed a \u201cmission accomplished<\/em>\u201d narrative, in which they boast about their success in curbing the number of \u201cmigrants\u201d transiting through Niger and foreground the protection of migrants against smugglers.2<\/a><\/sup><\/a>La Tribune Afrique,  Migration ill\u00e9gale : le Niger assure le job, selon l’OIM, 17 Octobre 2017: https:\/\/afrique.latribune.fr\/afrique-de-l-ouest\/niger\/2017-10-17\/migration-illegale-le-niger-assure-le-job-selon-l-oim-754381.html<\/a>; European Union, Les op\u00e9rations de l\u2019Equipe Conjointe d\u2019Investigation contre les trafiquants de migrants se poursuivent malgr\u00e9 le Covid-19, 16 Juin 2020: https:\/\/trust-fund-for-africa.europa.eu\/news\/les-operations-de-lequipe-conjointe-dinvestigation-contre-les-trafiquants-de-migrants-se-poursuivent-2020-06-16_en<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Migrants abandoned in the desert and found by National Patrol on the Agadez-Dirkou road, Source: Giacomo Zandonini, 2018
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Numerous journalists, activists, and researchers have contested this account, arguing instead that life-threatening conditions faced by migrants have in fact been exacerbated by the implementation of the law. They have highlighted the role of Niger as a key strategic location of mobility control within the EU\u2019s policies of border externalization\u2014through which the EU has extended border control beyond its perimeter, including ever further south into the Sahara-Sahel region. Their analysis has shown that the law\u2019s effects, along with the many forms of border control that have arisen in recent years, have forced drivers\u2019 trajectories into more remote areas of the desert, creating dangerous and often fatal conditions when a vehicle breaks down or drivers abandon their passengers and flee to avoid apprehension. Activists, journalists, and researchers have worked tirelessly for years to draw attention to the ways in which the law\u2019s implementation has led to a humanitarian disaster for migrants and Nigeriens alike, as well as leading to economic precarity and fear of severe fines and imprisonment amongst locals, particularly for those living in the region of Agadez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Migrant trajectories have changed drastically across the regions of Agadez in northern Niger since the implementation in 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite these efforts, the true scale of migrant deaths across the desert is unknown. This is due to the ways in which the law\u2019s harsh penalties have forced cross-Saharan movement within Niger further underground and into more remote areas of the desert, where incidents can easily go unnoticed. As a result, reliable data on deaths have become even more difficult to gather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this report, Border Forensics\u2019 investigation mobilizes new and unique geo-spatial analysis and remote sensing methodologies to contribute to a better empirical analysis of the lethal effects of Law 2015-36 and the heightened border control it led to. We first detail the underlying context for the dramatic shifts in the approach to migration at the national level in Niger, and the role of European actors in developing Niger\u2019s border controls from 2015 onwards to thwart migration to Europe. We further discuss the challenges of data collection that has limited the availability of empirical evidence documenting the effects of Law 2015-036. We then describe the unique methodologies we have developed and data sources we have accessed and in turn apply these methods to a multi-sited case study along a section of the Agadez-Sabha route stretching from the civilian town of S\u00e9gu\u00e9dine, through the military outpost of Madama, and up to the Toummo checkpoint at the Niger-Libya border. We provide a brief overview of each site before describing the remote sensing and geospatial analysis we conducted at each site. Finally, we discuss the implications of those findings for assigning accountability for the increased dangers of cross-Saharan travel in Niger in the wake of Law 2015-036.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High resolution images were collected from open sources (Bing Maps, 2014; ESRI World Imagery, 2016; and Google Earth, 2021-22), and in instances where open source images were of insufficient resolution, imagery was purchased from LAND INFO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While our analysis of each site reveals varied dynamics of bordering practices and splintering trajectories, a recurring pattern emerges pointing to a clear correlation between increased border control and the dispersal of migrants\u2019 trajectories. In turn, we demonstrate how this dispersal sees migrants\u2019 trajectories move deeper into the desert, where chances of survival are greatly diminished in the recurring events of vehicle failures, abandonment, or passengers running out of water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We make visible and measurable one of the greatest risks faced in these cross-Saharan journeys: a life-threatening state of dehydration in less traveled and less surveilled areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t\n\t