Niger, currently holding approximately 431,000 refugees and asylum seekers according to UNHCR, has become a country where the EU and other African states have deported migrants to, but as funding is focused elsewhere, aid is diminishing.
Agadez: An Accurate Depiction of the Problem
The Humanitarian Center in Agadez is under the management of Nigerien authorities, with UNHCR and NGO partners’ aid supplementing vital services.
Over 2,000 migrants live here; they come from Sudan, West, Central, and the Horn of Africa, with some awaiting responses from Nigerien authorities regarding their asylum applications.
The camp was established in 2018 and has been the focus of much controversy since. In 2020, residents began a protest for better living conditions, which ended in the burning of the camp. Nigerien authorities arrested 355 people immediately and blamed protesters for the fire, who denied these claims and alleged that the Nigerien use of tear gas was to blame.
The refugees were then forced to stay in the desert and accused the UNHCR of “aligning with the Nigerien government” by neglecting their plight. These accusations remain unchanged, with migrants reporting that Nigerien authorities imprison and beat anyone who files complaints, and that the camp still lacks access to education or healthcare, which are supposedly provided by UNHCR.
The cutting of aid is also seen by residents as punishment, since the Nigerien government requested it.
Stranded by EU Pushbacks
As public opinion on migration sours across Europe and far-right parties gain support by exploiting the issue’s salience, EU countries have begun revising asylum laws, tightening border controls, and paying other nations to push back or receive deported migrants.
These tactics, pushbacks especially, left many refugees secluded in Saharan camps, like the Agadez Center.
A report compiled by several media outlets, including The Washington Post and French Le Monde, provided evidence that countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania were paid more than 400 million euros by the EU between 2015 and 2021 to “combat unauthorized migration,” mostly under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, meant to promote local economic growth to ease migration.
These countries utilized the money to fund the training and equipment of personnel who were later involved in several severe human rights abuses.
Italy’s deal with Tunisia and Libya has also brought about mass deportations and allegations; in January, Libya carried out the largest known deportation to Niger at the time, forcing more than 600 people back to the desert town of Dirkou in trucks.
Alarme Phone Sahara, a Nigerien NGO that informs, documents, and supports rescue missions in the Sahel-Sahara region, reported that 792 migrants were deported from Libya between 28 March and 25 April—most of whom had spent time in Libyan detention centers before being extracted.
In Tunisia, migrants reported bearing witness to mass rape by local security forces, their cooperation with smugglers, and ‘snatching’ people off the street to deport them without water in scalding temperatures.
“The EU pays to erase migrants, to make suffering invisible, and to wash its hands while others do its dirty work,” David Yambio, spokesperson for the nonprofit organization Refugees in Libya, accused.
Abandoned by the United Nations
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, stated they are doing everything they can to aid people residing in the Agadez Camp, but residents disagree.
“UNHCR’s role is very weak, and they treat us without much humanity; they have little role in protecting us, which makes us vulnerable,” one told The Guardian.
UNHCR is also cutting food aid to the camp in an effort “to promote refugee self-reliance and more sustainable solutions to refugee situations,” though it will continue to provide aid for those deemed ‘vulnerable.’
An anonymous UNHCR official explained that resettlement is becoming increasingly difficult due to funding cuts and the growing reluctance of European governments to accept refugees.
Jeff Crisp, a former senior UNHCR official, added that the agency struggles dealing with protesters, who are frequently seen as ‘troublemakers’ and are perceived to be ungrateful.
Moctar Dan Yaye, from the Alarme Phone Sahara team, sympathizes with the refugees, many of whom have been in the camp for years.
“This is the unfairness of the EU policies – they say they care about human rights but then create these problems,” he added.
