IMMIGRATION
SENEGAL/SPAIN – Both countries sign agreement to fight immigration
Illegal emigration is at the heart of the official visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Dakar. The latter met with President Macky Sall on Friday, April 9, 2021 to take stock of the number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands since 2020. Since the Senegalese coasts are a strategic starting point for Spain, Pedro Sanchez wants to make Senegal “an essential partner in the management of the Atlantic route.” To this end, the two countries have concluded an agreement called “circular migration” or “seasonal”. It consists in organizing emigration in a legal and periodic manner. This will probably prevent risky departures aboard a canoe and regulate the conditions of stay of candidates for emigration.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez and the Senegalese Head of State, Macky Sall, signed a convention on Friday, April 9 with the aim of definitively fighting against the illegal emigration of young Senegalese. In his speech, the President of the Spanish Government announced the signing by the two entities of “a joint declaration and two memoranda of understanding“. The objective of this agreement between the two countries is to strengthen “bilateral relations in this area” with Senegal in order to achieve “safe, orderly and regular migration”. Spain intends to give itself the necessary means to enforce these announced measures aimed at organising emigration candidates on a regular basis. In this sense, Pedro Sanchez praises the work of “the Spanish Police and Civil Guard deployed at the Autonomous Port of Dakar“, while stressing that “their collaboration with the Senegalese authorities is essential to fight on the front line against irregular immigration.”
Addressing the same point, President Macky Sall said that Spain is “a major partner with which (his country) maintains dynamic, trusting and multiform relations.” He also expressed his satisfaction with this migration convention, which now links the two countries in a solid bilateral cooperation.
In 2020, 23,000 migrants landed on the Spanish coast. This number, considered excessive by the authorities of the Iberian Peninsula, is 10 times higher than the previous year. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, therefore began a tour of several African countries, including this visit to Senegal, to find solutions to this phenomenon that has taken many sons from the African continent and thus shattered their dream of success and support for their families. 400 Senegalese migrants who have already joined Spain should soon be repatriated in the coming months.
The National Navy has boarded Thursday, August 24, 2024 a dugout canoe of clandestines off the coast of Saint-Louisiennes. The canoe had 97 migrants on board, including 83 Senegalese (three women and two minors). The other 14 are foreigners (12 Gambians and 02 Malians), reports the newspaper Les Échos.
According to the information of the newspaper, they were sent by the navy Thursday, aboard the patrol at sea «le Fouladou» to the Arsenal of the National Navy at the Autonomous Port of Dakar. Upon landing, they were received by the commander of the naval base of the French Navy.
It should be noted that «as soon as the navy announced the interception of this canoe, the prosecutor of the Republic opened an investigation to know the ins and outs. The investigation is entrusted to the National Directorate for Combating Smuggling of Migrants (DNLT) of the Directorate of Air and Border Police,” the newspaper added
“When asked at the outset where they were embarking, they replied that the canoe left on 21 August in Kayar. They were intercepted 250 km off the coast of Saint-Louis by the French Navy on the night of August 21 to 22,” our colleagues explain
Sixty-six (66) people arrived during the day of Thursday, August 03, 2023 in Tenerife aboard two canoes. In one of them there were 14 people and in the other 52.
Several of the migrants were transferred to health centres with various health situations, a journalist told the news. The majority of its young people are Senegalese.
As a reminder, in Africa, migrant smuggling brings 59 billion CFA francs to smugglers per year. Illicit financial flows (FFI) from the smuggling of migrants from West Africa to Europe are estimated at more than $100 million per year, 59,250,000,000 CFA francs, according to a report published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on Friday, July 28, 2023.
“Moderate estimates of human smuggling from West Africa to Europe alone exceed $100 million,” the study, “Illicit financial flows from migrant smuggling: Trends and responses in West Africa,” said.
“In 2020, migration data showed an increase in migrant crossings from Senegal to the Canary Islands by about 1,000% compared to the 2011-2019 period,” the report notes.
With regard to Senegal, the seaway is the most popular with smugglers, the authors of the report stress. “Smugglers are using the maritime routes from Senegal to the Spanish Canary Islands as a gateway to Europe because of increasing restrictions on the Mediterranean route,” says the document.
According to the authors of this report, coastal towns like Saint Louis and Mbour are the main departure points for the Canary Islands ‘of irregular migrants [who] also leave certain fishing villages, such as Joal, Thiaroye and Soumbedioune.”
They also note the presence of candid
Illicit financial flows (FFI) from migrant smuggling from West Africa to Europe are estimated at more than $100 million per year, or 59,250,000,000 CFA francs, according to a report published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), this Friday, July 28, 2023.
“Moderate estimates of human smuggling from West Africa to Europe alone exceed $100 million,” the study, “Illicit financial flows from migrant smuggling: Trends and responses in West Africa,” said.
“In 2020, migration data showed an increase in migrant crossings from Senegal to the Canary Islands by about 1,000% compared to the 2011-2019 period,” the report notes.
With regard to Senegal, the seaway is the most popular with smugglers, the authors of the report stress. “Smugglers are using the maritime routes from Senegal to the Spanish Canary Islands as a gateway to Europe because of increasing restrictions on the Mediterranean route,” says the document.
According to the authors of this report, coastal towns like Saint Louis and Mbour are the main departure points for the Canary Islands ‘of irregular migrants [who] also leave certain fishing villages, such as Joal, Thiaroye and Soumbedioune.”
They also note the presence of candidates for irregular migration from other West African countries, to whom smugglers “generally require full payment in advance (…) between $400 and $600.”
However, the report says, “in 2023, the use of maritime routes appears to have decreased, suggesting that COVID-19 restrictions on land borders played a role in the increased use of maritime routes between 2020 and 2022.”
On a global scale, migrant smuggling brings smugglers more than 10 billion dollars per year, or 5 925 000 000 000 CFA francs, according to estimates by the rappor
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