Migrant arrivals to Spain’s Canaries surge seven-fold so far this year
Madrid, Spain Reuters The number of migrants boarding rickety boats from West Africa and reaching Spain’s Canary Islands has risen seven-fold so far this year from the same period of 2023, Interior Ministry data showed on Friday. A total of 11,704 irregular migrants reached the Atlantic Ocean archipelago between 1st January and 15th February, compared […]
EU border agency says stopping migration is impossible
Warsaw, Poland Reuters Irregular immigration to the EU from Western Africa rose more than 10 times on the year in January, according to the bloc’s Frontex border agency, which expects overall arrivals to grow in 2024 and says halting the movement of people completely is impossible. Frontex head Hans Leijtens spoke in his Warsaw office […]
Activists warn over slavery as Mauritania joins UN human rights council
Dakar, SenegalThomson Reuters Foundation Mauritania is backsliding in efforts to eliminate descent-based slavery, an activist and opposition member has warned, as the West African country joined the UN Human Rights Council for the first time this week. Biram Dah Abeid called on other UN members to pressure Mauritania, the last country in the world to […]
Satellite data shows hunger looming in Senegal, Mauritania
Dakar, SenegalThomson Reuters Foundation Hundreds of thousands of people in Senegal and Mauritania are at risk of going hungry in the coming year because not enough grass has grown to feed the region’s cattle, analysts said on Friday. Satellite maps show barren pastures across large swaths of the two West African countries, which means animals will die, […]
Europe must cut ties with Mauritania, anti-slavery politician says
Thomson Reuters Foundation Days after his release from jail, one of Mauritania’s top anti-slavery campaigners called on Europe to stop doing business with and giving aid to the West African country, which has one of the world’s highest rates of slavery. Biram Dah Abeid, a politician and lawyer, called on the European Union to follow the […]
SLAVERY: AS PRACTICES CHANGE IN MAURETANIA, SILENT VICTIMS PROVE HARDER TO FIND
NELLIE PEYTON, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on claims from rights groups that while slavery still exists in Mauretania, finding victims is these days more difficult…
Mauritanian activists hail US decision to end trade deal over slavery
Thomson Reuters Foundation Mauritanian activists on Tuesday praised the United States’ decision to end trade benefits over the practice of slavery and called on other states to follow suit with sanctions. US President Donald Trump said on Friday Mauritania was no longer eligible for the benefits, citing insufficient progress last year in eradicating forced labour and hereditary […]