Slavery isn't a thing of the past, but a reality for more than 40 million people around the globe. DW talks to one of the world's oldest anti-slavery organization about why slavery still exists today.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR have announced a temporary suspension of resettlement travel for refugees because of COVID-19.
At the bus station in the small village of Edirne in Turkey we met Moussa, a 28-year-old migrant from Niger. Moussa told us he was robbed by men who pretended they would help him cross the Evros river to get to Greece.
Authorities in Niger rescued 232 victims of sex trafficking and forced labor. Among the victims were girls as young as 10.
A humanitarian corridor organized by Caritas, UNHCR, and the Italian government was suspended at the last minute by the Italian government. The corridor would have brought refugees to Italy from Niger.
Tensions are high in Agadez, a major hub for African migrants en route to Europe. Police arrested more than 300 people after a refugee camp was set ablaze last Saturday. The UN is calling for restraint.
Almost 1.5 million more euros will be added to a fund set up by Italy to help African nations, specifically for projects in Niger and Ethiopia.
In Niger and the Sahel region in west-central Africa, the trade in goods and people has been big business for centuries. In the last few years, people smuggling was an officially recognized profession. In some cases, smugglers even paid taxes. But in the last year, that business has been experiencing a downturn as a series of laws, passed originally in 2015, have begun to bite, causing the former smugglers to look elsewhere for an income.
In the Tenere desert in south central Sahara, days can go by without a single vehicle passing on the road. In March this year, the gear box on a truck carrying 25 migrants heading for Libya broke down. When help arrived three days later, the migrants were hungry, thirsty, and traumatized. Had it not been for their rescuers, Alarm Phone Sahara, they might well have perished.
A new document by the German government highlights strengths and weaknesses in ongoing EU efforts to evacuate migrants and refugees stranded in Libya. It focused in particular on recent initiatives to move migrants to Rwanda and Niger.
A new sports center for migrants evacuated from Libya has opened in Niger's capital, Niamey. It is hoped that the center, built by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, will help the migrants to overcome trauma.
Tens of thousands of people have set out from West and Central Africa in recent years in the hope of reaching Europe. Not all have completed the dangerous journey – opting instead to retrace their steps and return to their families. But going home brings new risks – including being seen by the community as ‘a failure’.