Switzerland to fund new projects along migration route in Africa

The West and North Africa migrant routes are at the route of various dangerous Mediterranean crossing efforts. Keystone / Matthias Schrader

The government has announced some CHF22 million for projects to protect youth migrants in North and West Africa, and to deter them from making dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean to Europe.

The CHF21.8 million ($23.5 million) is to be spent over the next four years in an effort to “create better prospects for children and adolescents” in West and North Africa, the government said on Wednesday.

The project, to be jointly run by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), aims to “safeguard the rights of underage migrants, protect them from abuse, and provide access to basic education”.

According to the government, underage people – especially girls and young women – face significant risks along migration routes in the region, including falling prey to traffickers, drug dealers and other criminal organisations.

Due to poverty, a poor economic situation, conflict, climate change, and restrictive social customs, migration is a major issue in West and North Africa, the authorities write; the UN estimates that over 45 million people currently live outside their country of origin, including 5 million minors.

The first phase of the Swiss project will focus on Tunisia, Morocco, Guinea, Mali, and Niger.

Frontex vote

The funding is part of Switzerland’s wider foreign policy on migration, which the government says “helps countries of origin and transit to better protect and integrate migrants on the ground”. This also means efforts to “deter [migrants] from making perilous boat journeys across the Mediterranean to Europe”.

Swiss migration policy includes close cooperation with the European border and coastguard agency Frontex, which polices the external boundaries of the Schengen area. The funding provided by Switzerland to the body will be subject to a nationwide vote on May 15 after campaigners collected signatures to challenge what they see as the violent “militarisation of borders” symbolised by Frontex.