Reforming Mobility Governance in West Africa

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this policy paper is to propose a common framework for action to transform irregular migration into orderly mobility along the Senegal-Mali-Mauritania-Europe axis, integrating human dignity, economic realities, and protection needs into its approach. The document is part of a series of works by the Spanish Institute for Migration Analysis (IEAM) and is the result of a collective intelligence workshop held in Dakar, which brought together researchers, government representatives, international and humanitarian organizations, community actors, the private sector, and diasporas. The aim of the exercise was to consolidate a shared diagnosis, identify short-term vigilance points, and formulate recommendations and operational pilot projects.

The diagnosis takes place in a context of reactivation of the Atlantic route as a main access route to the EU, with a rebound in arrivals to the Canary Islands since 2023-2024 and a diversification of profiles (youth, women, children, new countries of origin). However, in 2025, the preeminence of departures from Algeria to Spain remains significant. In this recomposing landscape, mobility governance suffers less from a lack of texts than from a deficit of coherence in implementation, fragmenting bilateralism, and displacement effects that divert routes to other areas—sometimes more dangerous—without reducing the structural factors of departures.

STRATEGIC MESSAGES

• Sovereignty through regional coherence: establish pragmatic coordination focused on cross-border effects, in order to preserve good neighborliness, border economies, and local stability; focus primarily on criminal networks (and not on people) through reinforced judicial cooperation, and reduce extortion at checkpoints as a condition for effectiveness.
• The diaspora and community rooting as a bridge of trust: connect diaspora associations, municipalities, and community actors in areas of origin to disseminate reliable information, support mentoring and investment, reinforce local alternatives, and promote sustainable returns backed by the socio-economic environment.
• Anchor implementation at the territorial level: better articulate supply and demand through companies, municipalities, and decentralized services, to align profiles, positions, consular requirements, and viable pathways.
• Make regular mobility credible and accessible: reform consular practices (predictability, transparency, communication, reduction of deadlines) and reduce the space left to fraudulent intermediaries.
• Data for realistic decision-making and anticipating routes: institutionalize systematic triangulation and create a light monitoring mechanism with periodic reports shared among the countries of the region.