»Wir sollten uns niemals an das Leid, das Flüchtende und Migrant:innen erleben, gewöhnen oder es akzeptieren«

In total, 1,180 persons are known to have died while crossing the Sahara Desert for the period January 2020 to May 2024 (IOM, n.d.c), but the number is believed to be much higher (Grillmeier et al., 2023). During the same period, around 7,115 people on the move were reported to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea. Crimes against humanity (United Nations, 2023a) death, SGBV, torture and physical violence, kidnapping for ransom, trafficking in persons, robbery, arbitrary detention, collective expulsions and refoulement; this is the non-exhaustive list of “unimaginable horrors” that refugees and migrants experience along the routes extending from the East and Horn of Africa and West Africa towards the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and onward to Europe (United Nations Support Mission in Libya and OHCHR, 2018). More recently, the security situation has further deteriorated in several countries, generating increased displacement and cross-border movements of persons in need of international protection and of migrants.

Crossing the Sahara Desert – including locations such as Sabha in Libya, Agadez in the Niger and Tamanrasset in Algeria – is doubtless recognized as a dangerous segment of the journey. Other dangerous areas include Tripoli in Libya, Khartoum in the Sudan, Bamako in Mali and several other places along the route. Téra in the Niger was identified as a much more dangerous place if compared to the previous report, while Douentza in Mali and Humera in Ethiopia emerged as new risky locations. After the conflict broke out, the Sudan is becoming an even more difficult place to cross, with people becoming more reliant on smugglers for safe passage through and around conflict zones, leading to increasing fees and potentially more exploitative arrangements (Bonfiglio et al., 2023). 

As a development from the previous report, further risks have been investigated, including arbitrary detention, bribery and extortion, robbery, trafficking in persons, collective expulsions and refoulement. Collective expulsions have been taking place from Algeria to the Niger, from Libya (OHCHR, 2021:16) to Egypt, the Sudan, Chad and the Niger and reportedly, more recently from Tunisia to Libya and Algeria (Human Rights Watch, 2023a and 2023b).

Den gesamten Bericht finden Sie hier.