# taz.de -- Migration policy in Benin: Little development in spite of european … | |
> Benin is a transit country, mainly for people from Nigeria. Many Beninese | |
> try to stay in the region looking for jobs in neighbouring countries | |
> instead of making their way through the desert to europe. | |
Bild: Benin's president Patrice Talon visiting Ankara | |
Benin with it's almost 11 million inhabitants has long been thought of as | |
the archetypal nation of emigrants. According to various studies between | |
2006 and 2012, it was estimated that around three million Beninese people | |
live outside the country.1 Meanwhile, the World Bank is now estimating that | |
four million Beninese people in 2013 have transferred a total of 73.5 | |
billion CFA Francs (112 million Euros) to Benin.2 | |
According to Professor John Igue, however, it is also increasingly becoming | |
a country of immigrants, which means that, according to the International | |
Organisation for Migration (IOM), 2.3% of the population are migrants. | |
About three quarters come from the neighbouring countries of Nigeria, Togo | |
and Niger. | |
The number of Beninese people trying to reach Europe by land remains, | |
however, limited. In 2015, 845 asylum applications were made in Europe, the | |
United States, Canada and Brazil. With 363 applications, Germany is the | |
most popular country for refugees and migrants. The rejection rate is 93 | |
per cent.3 Other countries which are also popular in the region include the | |
Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, and also the Democratic Republic of Congo. | |
Up-to-date, reliable figures do not exist, but the increased flight | |
connections are indications. | |
The business capital Cotonou is, however, attractive to Nigerians from the | |
South, who use Benin as a transit country and continue their journey from | |
Cotonou towards North Africa and Europe. Unlike, for example, in Lagos or | |
Port Harcourt in Nigeria, there are nonstop buses to Niamey, the capital | |
city of Niger. This is possible as a result of the „Protocol on Free | |
Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment“ of the Economic Community | |
of West African States (ECOWAS). When crossing the border from Nigeria into | |
Benin, an ECOWAS passport is even required. It is possible, at least at the | |
Seme border crossing in the far South, to cross the border without papers | |
in exchange for a small payment – approximately one to three Euros. | |
A bilateral agreement with Nigeria to combat human trafficking, which often | |
takes place in Cotonou, was reached in 2009. It includes the prosecution of | |
the alleged traffickers, as well as the return of victims to their home | |
countries. This was followed in 2011 by a further agreement with the | |
Democratic Republic of Congo for action against child trafficking. | |
Benin is still not classified as a safe home country by Germany, but it is | |
by former colonial power France; a repatriation agreement has been in place | |
since 2010. In general, Benin is seen as politically stable, demonstrated | |
by the peaceful transfer of power in March 2016. Unlike in neighbouring | |
countries, homosexuals are not persecuted. | |
Benin has been the darling of European development cooperation for decades. | |
The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (the „German Corporation | |
for International Cooperation“) has been in place for around 35 years now, | |
and has a staff of 235. There are many other public and private | |
cooperations. However, Benin remains one of the least developed countries. | |
In the current United Nations Human Development Index, it ranks 166 out of | |
188. The latest Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International | |
(TI) ranks the former French colony rank at number 83. The illiteracy rate | |
in 2008 was 58.3 per cent. | |
In recent years, there have been several migration projects. Originally, | |
the aim was mainly to gather missing data. A further aim, in cooperation | |
with Mali, Cameroon and Senegal, was the programme “Partnership for labour | |
migration management“4, which was launched in 2009 within the framework of | |
the EU-Africa partnership. Its particular objectives were to make | |
international job vacancies publicly available and to create a better | |
network between the west-African countries. | |
The foundation for the cooperation between the EU and Benin is the National | |
Indicative Programme 2014-2020, which is part of the current European | |
Development Fund. It supports the areas of good government leadership (€184 | |
million), sustainable development in agriculture (€80 million), access to | |
energy supply (€80 million) and support for the civil society (€18 | |
million). The total amount from the previous EU development fund, which had | |
a similar focus, amounted to €380.37 million. | |
Benin is the location of the ECOWAS Multinational Maritime Coordination | |
Centre (MMCC) and has therefore had to join the fight against piracy. In | |
terms of economy, the country is highly dependent on revenue from the port, | |
which makes up about ten per cent of the country's GDP. In 2013, the EU had | |
already made over €4.5 million available to the Critical Maritime Routes in | |
the Gulf of Guinea Programme (CRIMGO). | |
12 Dec 2016 | |
## AUTOREN | |
Katrin Gänsler | |
## TAGS | |
migControl | |
Benin | |
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA | |
Abwesender Präsident in Benin: Gerüchte ohne Ende | |
Die krankheitsbedingte Abwesenheit des Staatschefs Patrice Talon sorgt für | |
Spekulationen: Liegt er im Koma? Vermisst wird seine Politik aber nicht. |