Human Smuggling in Libya and Niger: key trends amid political upheaval and instability

This event will present the main findings of the Libya and Niger country-focused research reports covering shifts in human smuggling dynamics since 2023 and offer a discussion on their implications for irregular migratory flows on the central and western mediterranean routes.

In Niger, the July 2023 coup led to a number of significant shifts affecting human smuggling dynamics, the most profound of which was the repeal of the 2015 law criminalizing human smuggling. Despite persisting coup-related border closures that have hampered movements of West African migrants to Niger, migratory flows through Niger have increased and human smuggling dynamics have been reshaped.

In Libya, in a context of unstable political status quo, hybrid smuggling - whereby people make use of a mixture of regular and irregular means to travel - has proven resilient in the face of several significant shocks.

This event is based on the recently published report seriesHuman smuggling and trafficking ecosystems - North Africa and the Sahel covering changing dynamics in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Mali in 2023.