‘Back Way to Europe’: How Can The Gambia Better Address Migration and Its Development Challenges?
Report for ActionAid (July 2018)
In the four years 2014-17, some 1.7 million people risked their lives by fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea for Europe, a journey in which over 13,000 have died or have gone missing. This report is a contribution to understanding what the proper policy responses to this movement of people should best be. It focuses on young people in one African country, The Gambia, thousands of whom have been seeking a better life in Europe – often called the ‘back way’. This study asks: Why have so many young Gambians become irregular migrants and what can be done to help them and The Gambia manage this exodus and promote national development.