New UN Report Highlights Rising Violence and Abuse on African Land Routes
Thousands of refugees and migrants who risk their lives on dangerous land routes across the African continent are subject to violence, abuse, and exploitation, according to a report released Friday by the UN Refugee Agency, International Organization for Migration, and the Mixed Migration Center research group.
The report, based on interviews with 32,000 refugees and migrants conducted between 2020 and 2023, reveals that the number of people attempting perilous land crossings has increased, as have the protection threats they face since the first edition of the report was issued in 2020.
With more people estimated to cross the Sahara Desert than the Mediterranean Sea, the report presumes that twice as many refugees and migrants die in the desert than at sea — although the statistics in the report seemingly belie that.
“In total, 1,180 persons are known to have died while crossing the Sahara Desert for the period January 2020 to May 2024, but the number is believed to be much higher,” the report states. “During the same period, around 7,115 people were reported to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea.”
Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR special envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean Situation, clarified the discrepancy between the numbers of reported land and sea deaths. “We do not have an accurate number of statistics of people who die along the land route because there is nobody collecting the bodies,” he explained. “We have better knowledge of shipwrecks because people are collecting the bodies when the shipwreck is close to the shore of the Mediterranean.”
“It is not based on hard data but based on the testimony of people,” he added.
The report notes that new conflicts in the Sahel and Sudan, the impact of climate change, and new disasters in the East and Horn of Africa are driving more people than in 2020 to cross Africa’s dangerous land routes in search of safety and better economic opportunities.
Among the reported risks and abuses faced by refugees and migrants are torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, death, kidnapping for ransom, sexual exploitation, enslavement, human trafficking, organ removal, robbery, and collective expulsions.
In the survey, 38% of respondents cited physical violence as the main risk encountered during their journey. The risk of death, reported by 14% of respondents in the previous report, has now increased to 20%, and the risk of sexual and gender-based violence has increased to 15% from 12.5% in 2020.
“The risk of kidnapping seems to be a new one,” Cochetel observed. “It used to be mentioned by 2% of respondents four years ago; now it is mentioned by 18%. Almost one out of five claim that the journey involves that risk of kidnapping.”
The report highlights that refugees and migrants are increasingly encountering insurgent groups, militias, and other criminal actors, where human trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, forced labor, and sexual exploitation are rife.
Cochetel noted that respondents did not necessarily consider smugglers and traffickers the main perpetrators of violence. “We thought they were the main troublemakers on the route,” he said. “In fact, it turns out it is more criminal gangs, which can sometimes include traffickers. But the perception by migrants and refugees is that these are criminal gangs operating, and it is also law enforcement authorities, non-state actors, which are normally armed groups abusing the people on the way.”
Bram Frouws, director of the Mixed Migration Center, lamented having to produce another report that presents the “unimaginable levels of violence refugees and migrants are facing on these routes.” He emphasized that it is unacceptable and remains a collective stain on our conscience.
He called for all perpetrators of violence and other crimes against these vulnerable people to be held accountable. “We need to stop going after the very low-level pickup drivers in Niger, for example. We should really follow the money and catch the big guys, the ones responsible for all this violence,” he urged.
The UNHCR, IOM, partners, and several governments have stepped up life-saving services and assistance for refugees and migrants traveling on dangerous routes. However, they say humanitarian action is not enough.
The organizations call for more concrete measures to protect and save the lives of those embarking on dangerous journeys and stress the need to address the root causes of displacement and drivers of irregular movements.
