Migration Media Award: Third Place, Multimedia Category, English
Author:Louise Hunt
Media: www.newsdeeply.com
Date of Publication: 26 March, 2018
Title: Gambia’s Migration Paradox: The Horror and Promise of the Back Way
Short summary: The article explores the challenges “failed” Gambian migrants face upon return, providing an insight into the quandary over how to increase returns from Europe without jeopardising the source country’s overall development.
Gambians are now Europe’s second-largest diaspora as a share of the home-country population, according to the World Bank. Since the change in government from dictatorship to democracy in 2017, failed asylum seekers from Gambia are a clear target for the EU’s rapid returns policy.
While this article focuses on the experiences of some of the 2,210 Gambians who were repatriated by the IOM from Libya to Banjul in 2017, one of my lines of inquiry was to explore the implications for mass returns from Europe at this point. The report finds out thet the Libya returnees had so far received little, if any, support as EU-funded reintegration and youth training programmes were still in the early days of implementation and were struggling to meet demand.
The article also investigates the relationship between unprecedented levels of EU aid offered to the new Gambian government, and expectations to increase cooperation on returns of irregular migrants from member states.
Link to original publication
Gambia’s Migration Paradox: The Horror and Promise of the Back Way
Since democracy returned to The Gambia last year, many Gambians are coming home, including from Libya with E.U. aid. Some returnees are warning others against the journey, but many are frustrated that returns and deterrence took precedence over reintegration and jobs.
See more stories by Louise Hunt:
Gambian Migrants Who Risk Death Find Life Less than Sweet in Italy (Migration Media Award 2017 : Second Place, Online Category)
Meet the Gambian migrants under pressure to leave Europe
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