West Africa as a Migration and Protection Area

In the last few years, the arrival of fishing boats from the Sub-Sahara on the coasts of Spain and Italy, highly politicized and with intense media coverage, has also given the sub-region (West Africa) a new image: one of a “transit” area from which “thousands of Africans” are departing in the hope of reaching the European El Dorado. This report looks to show that that there are ten times more migration movements within West Africa than towards European countries. This report also seeks to set out protection risks specific to refugee populations in West Africa.