
War, Refugees and Geopolitics - trends shaping human smuggling ecosystems in Chad and Sudan
This event is based on the recently published report series: Human smuggling and trafficking ecosystems - North Africa and the Sahel covering changing dynamics in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Mali in 2023.
This event will assess how human smuggling and migration dynamics in Sudan and Chad have changed over 2023 and 2024. Mainly, it will look at how the outbreak of conflict in Sudan in April 2023 has driven a major displacement in the region and shaped regional human smuggling patterns.
In Sudan itself, human smugglers have seen demand for their services surge, as Sudanese refugees have sought to escape the conflict and transit into neighboring countries. Meanwhile, a counter cyclical flow of mercenaries has increasingly flowed from regional states into the country.
In Chad, the mass arrival of refugees in the east of the country has put additional pressure on already overstretched assistance capacities. Sudanese refugees have also begun to leave refugee camps in eastern Chad to travel to Libya, Niger, Algeria, and to goldmining areas across the Sahel.
Finally, the event will touch upon the regional impacts on human smuggling of heightened refugee movement through North Africa and the Sahel.