How EU Pressure Hampers Circular Migration between Niger and Libya

Abstract

On 26 May 2015, under pressure from its European partners, the Nigerien government issued Law 36-2015, which forbids Nigeriens from transporting international migrants north from Agadez towards Libya or Algeria. While this law supposedly targets only international migrants, a closer look reveals its extended impact on circular migration and the local population. The implementation of Law 36-2015 has negatively affected the local economy in the Agadez region, as people who had once made a living from migration in the wider sense have faced sudden unemployment. In reaction to the law's implementation, drivers and migrants have developed a diverse range of strategies to circumvent new restrictions. As a result, migration to Libya and Algeria has become more expensive and more dangerous, since drivers are forced to use unofficial routes that include higher bribe payments to local security officials. Because routes have become more clandestine, dangerous, and expensive, the official number of Nigeriens migrating to Libya or Algeria has declined, leading to unintended consequences for their local communities for whom income from different forms of migration is part of an important resilience strategy to counter unemployment, poverty, and droughts. Given the law's sole and explicit focus on international migrants, international NGOs working in the region of Agadez have started to concentrate mostly on non-Nigerien migrants. This has fuelled dissatisfaction among the local population, with the potential for future violence. The European Union should stop using humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip to implement European externalisation policies. Rather than pursuing migration policies in sub-Saharan Africa that have evinced negative consequences for traditional and local forms of migration, policymakers should design policies that incorporate the knowledge, perspectives, and needs of both local actors and the affected local population - migrants and non-migrants alike.