GID Intensifies Efforts to Combat Irregular Migration Amid Increase in Smugglers

Author: Pa Modou Cham

Amid a continued increase in the number of reported boasts that ventured into the deadly irregular migration journey, the Gambia Migration Department (GID) has intensified efforts to continue constant patrols at the Gambian coast.

Speaking to commissioner Foday Gassama, the commissioner in charge of migration management at GID, told our reporter that this year, his department has 29 interception cases among which 10 boats were intercepted with 317 migrants. After the interceptions, he added that his department did investigations and charged about 33 people in eight irregular migration cases, saying most of them are now convicted while two pending cases are in court.

Giving a comparison for last year, he said: “We have a total of six cases compared to 29 cases this year. Out of the six, we made three interceptions and the other three were instances we had reports and our officers would disperse them without arresting anybody. A total of 14 smugglers were charged, and two boats were seized.” He continued that the report they received from their partners stated that ‘out of the 14 boats that arrived in Europe, only two departed from the Gambia’.

Dwelling on the manpower to combat the irregular migration, Commission Gassama explained that the activities have stretched their capacity to the limit. He stated that they used to have patrol teams that were dedicated to monitoring activities at the sea. He noted that there were only two boats they used to successfully intercept that number.

“We have heard reports of other boats leaving, meaning the capacity of our patrol teams was not adequate to deal with the entire situation and that’s why we came up with the idea of Operation Zero Departure.”

On whether probes are made to apprehend perpetrators, Commissioner Gassama explained that this year, they have a total of 55 investigations in different aspects of irregular migration. He said it is a challenge when people travel to Libya by land, arguing that getting the proof that they are going on the irregular migration is always difficult because of the freedom of movement within the ECOWAS member countries.

“Fighting irregular migration requires capacity in terms of training, equipment, and resources. For example, we used to have two patrol teams but the fuel their vehicles required for constant patrol is a problem, much more so when we have to divert all our resources to a constant patrol of the coast. The coast is very extensive and migrants are now using diverse areas which we have to be in everywhere at all times. That requires resources in terms of vehicles, fueling, and maintenance.”

On the lack of a legal framework to deal with issues of migrant smugglers, Gassama confessed that the Gambia doesn’t have specific legislation that criminalises the activities of smuggling migrants, unlike other countries. He explained that The Gambia had already signed the United Nations Convention on International Organized Crimes with the Protocol Against Trafficking in Person and Smuggling Migrants.

However, he said: “We have the Trafficking in Person Act 2007 that deals with the issues of trafficking. If a case of trafficking in person is reported, there is a specific criminal law that can be used but there is no specific criminal law for the smuggling of migrants. Some of the time, we charge smugglers with immigration offences which are administrative and not criminal.”

He emphasized that most of the migrant smugglers are fine with D5000 by magistrates due to the lack of a legal framework in place.  He revealed that there is a Smuggling of Migrants Bill that was developed, saying the political will is there to ensure that the bill is passed.

“We are hopeful that by 2024, the bill will be tabled before the National Assembly for it to be passed into law. With that law in place, we will be able to deal with the smugglers adequately so that we can combat irregular migrations.”

 Gasssama continued that their primary function is to control the movement of people that enter or leave the country and they make sure they do that in an orderly manner. Irregular migration has been a concern because we believe that people depart in a dangerous way, which causes a lot of threats to their lives and livelihood. He stated that irregular migration is not done per the principles they uphold to make sure that migration is safe, orderly and regular.