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# taz.de -- Migration Policy in Sierra Leone: War, desease and no perspective
> Sierra Leone is located far from the typical routes for migration and
> flight. Nevertheless, the country has a very large and well-educated
> diaspora.
Bild: 2014: A burial team prepares an Ebola virus victim for interment
The small country of Sierra Leone with its population of about 6 million
made headlines in 2014 with the outbreak of the fatal Ebola virus, from
which at least 3,956 people died. During those months, a long-term,
noticeable trend with which the country has been struggling for decades
became especially clear: massive brain drain. As one doctor estimated in
November 2015 in a personal conversation, there are supposedly fewer
physicians with Sierra Leone passports in Sierra Leone itself than in the
USA. Their estimated number was lower than 200.
This development started during the civil war from 1991 to 2002, in which
more than two million people left the country, among them numerous
academics. In the year 2000, 52.5 percent of citizens with a university
education
were apparently living abroad. Due to the poor infrastructure and the lack
of economic growth with its corresponding low wages, bringing these
emigrants back was not successful. In any case, most Sierra Leoneans who
fled to neighbouring countries have meanwhile returned .
Yet those emigrants living in Great Britain, for instance, or in the USA,
are central to the country's economy. Their remittances for the year 2009
made up between twelve and 25 percent of the gross domestic product,
according to various estimates.
Because of the Ebola outbreak and its consequences, northward migration may
have become more complicated, yet simultaneously more attractive: since
mid-2014, many airlines have cancelled their service to the capital of
Freetown. Furthermore, due to the total economic collapse, family members
could no longer pool their money to pay for the journey to Europe, as they
would have usually done. At the same time, this trend may also have made
emigration more attractive than ever before, as the GDP fell by 21.1
percent in 2015 and will recover only very slowly.
## New Projects
One year before the civil war ended, the number of asylum applications for
2001 was just short of 14,000. In 2105, 1,262 Sierra Leoneans submitted
applications; the approval rate was 18.5 percent. 293 asylum seekers came
to Germany; Italy and Hungary ranked just below that. So far, return
agreements do not exist, neither with individual states nor with the
European Union. The country is also not among those scheduled to receive
funding from the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. In any case, Sierra
Leoneans can take part in the REAG reintegration programme. They belong to
the second group and receive €300 upon repatriation. Around €266 million
were designated for the country up until 2013 in the 10th Development Aid
Fund of the EU. In the eleventh, investments are planned in three main
areas – good governmental leadership, support for state facilities and the
creation of essential infrastructure.
Some laws and strategies on flight and migration are being discussed only
since the Valletta Summit in November 2015 and therefore, likely at the
urging of the EU. For instance, a workshop on work migration took place in
April 2016 in the context of the ECOWAS project, “Support to Free Movement
of Persons and Migration in West Africa“ (FMM West Africa).
Since 2014, migration and border security have been linked with the Ebola
outbreak more often than with continuing journeys toward North Africa and
Europe. One example of this is a project by the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) entitled “Health and Management of Borders and
Mobility“. Its goal is to curb the risk of infection that comes with the
free mobility to travel. Uncontrolled and uncontrollable borders were
viewed as one reason why the epidemic spread so massively throughout three
countries. At the same time, border crossings used to be the norm, i.e.,
going to work or to shop in a neighbouring country was once a constant and
common part of life.
12 Dec 2016
## AUTOREN
Katrin Gänsler
## TAGS
migControl
Sierra Leone
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
Hochwasser in Sierra Leone: Hunderte Tote nach Erdrutsch
In Sierra Leone starben mehr als 310 Menschen durch Überschwemmungen. In
Freetown ruschte eine Berghang ab. Helfer befürchten weitere Opfer.
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