New risks for old dilemmas in the Agadez region: Is the EU migration policy in Niger a success?

A discussion with Johannes Claes from the Clingendael Institute

Important migration routes towards Europe run through Niger due to its location at the entrance to the Sahara Desert. In 2015, the Niger government adopted Law 36-2015 to criminalize smuggling along the historical migration routes in the Agadez region. While this law undermined the local economy and forced migrants to use more dangerous routes, the EU welcomed it as a success.

• How has the EU’s migration policy in the Sahel fared?
• Did it contribute to more stability in the region or does it threaten local balances?
• What place does the Sahel strategy have in the new EU multiannual financial framework and to what extent will this influence migration developments in Niger?

Together with Johannes Claes from the Dutch Institute of International Relations Clingendael, we would like to introduce and review the EU’s migration policy in Niger, its impacts on the local economy and migration movements in the region, as well as its future developments.

We – the Polis180 programmes “WANA, Sahel & Beyond” and “Migration” – are glad to invite you to this online event on 14^th June 2022 at 6:30 pm via Zoom. The event will be held in English. No prior knowledge about Niger is necessary. For any further questions, please contact Lisa Erlmann (lisa.erlmann@polis180.org) from the programme „WANA, Sahel & Beyond“ or Julie Courbon (julie.courbon@polis180.org) from the programme “Migration”.

Johannes Claes is a Research Fellow with Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. He focuses on matters of political economy and governance in the Sahel. From 2017 to 2019 he lived in various countries in West Africa working on migration and displacement issues. Johannes previously worked for the Mixed Migration Center in Dakar where he led a regional data collection and analysis project on mixed migration flows, and before that for Médecins du Monde in Niger, where he worked on humanitarian projects mainly in the regions of Agadez and Tillabéri.