EL BLOG DE LA FIIAPP. Cooperación Española

“Niger, with its diverse culture and ethnicity, is a country of opportunities”

Fernando Guerrero, a  commissioner with the Spanish Police and head of mission, tells us about his experience as a FIIAPP expatriate with the ECI Niger project. This project is funded by the European Union through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and managed by FIIAPP. It fights criminal illegal immigration and human trafficking networks in Niger.

What was it like when you arrived in Niger? Do you have any anecdotes about that time?

I arrived at dawn in Niamey in September 2018. It was my first time in the Sahel. We had hardly had any sleep, the next morning, we went to the city centre accompanied with the coordinator. The colours, smells, landscape, the hubbub of the market, the crowds of people, the heat, and the extreme poverty… everything vied for my attention and left me a memory firmly engraved in my memory that I will never forget. As an anecdote, I remember that on the first day I noticed how local food products such as moringa with peanut paste were made and sold in the market. This seemed strange to me to start with but now they are a staple part of my diet.

And the adaptation period? What were the most and least difficult things for you?

In my opinion, if you are aware of the country you are going to and are willing to immerse yourself in the local culture, it’s much easier to adapt. Niger, with its varied culture and ethnicity, is a land of opportunities.

Some customs are strange to me, like polygamy and its rules. Also, the fact that much of the population, due to historical and social circumstances, and beyond the begging you might expect, see white people as the solution to all their problems and do not hesitate to ask for financial help at all times, even when they don’t know you at all.

Treating local people decently makes it easier to integrate. People welcome you into their homes with kindness, so you can get to know how they live.

Is this your first experience of living outside Spain? Is it proving to be very different from your previous ones? How long have you been there and how much time do you have left?

Yes, this is the first time I’ve lived away from Spain on a continuous basis. Most of the time I had spent abroad before this was in Eastern Europe. I arrived in Niger on 21 September 2018 and I’m scheduled to leave in December 2022.

What is your work like, your daily routine? Is it very different from the routine you had in Spain?

ECI Niger is a unique project, in the sense that it is a mission with an operational police component. We experts are part of the structure of the Nigerian National Police. We participate with them in operations and advise them on everything to do with police operations. We also deal with different local authorities, with the European Union Delegation; with embassies, with other projects and missions to achieve better coordination, and, of course, with FIIAPP, our operator.

The routine is different from the one I had in Spain.  One component that is always important, but which is an essential priority here is diplomacy. My experience during my career in the police force is something I share with my teammates and it is essential to the success of the project. Local authorities value that experience and may feel offended if the expert lacks it.

 How are relations with the FIIAPP?

We have an outstanding relationship. I have great appreciation for FIIAPP’s efforts to manage a pioneering operational police project. I also value the understanding that our coordination team shows with the daily difficulties that we professionals who are “in the field” have.

How would you rate your experience of working as a FIIAPP expatriate?

My personal and professional experience in Niger is priceless. I am fortunate to have an excellent team of professionals and people. Having worked with the National Police since 1994, working with FIIAPP professionals gives me a new point of view that enables me to grow professionally.

The Commissioner is responsible for the fight against people trafficking and the illegal smuggling of immigrants and fake documentation into his country. He is working on the Niger JIT Project with his Spanish and French counterparts. The project, which will last three years, is funded by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP.

What is the experience of working on and being part of the Niger Joint Investigation Team (Niger JIT) like?

Being a member of the JIT is a pleasure for me due to my multicultural and multidisciplinary background. Contact with other nationalities, such as the French and Spanish, has enriched us and given us experience by providing new ideas and new ways and methods of working on investigations. At the personal level, the cultural exchange has also been very positive, both for me and for those who are enjoying the experience.

In Europe there is a lot of discussion about migration and at times the points of view and policies of African countries are not taken into account. What are the views of the Republic of Niger?

At that level, I can make two important references to legislation referring to the fight against people trafficking in Niger. One is an Ordinance that dates from 2010, and the other a law from 2015 that organises the suppression of people trafficking and smuggling. These two Nigerien texts are really more protective than suppressive because, in addition to suppression, they include protection for and coverage of the victims.

It must be understood that there are ideas that reach the West, especially Europe, that make people think that Niger is a country that has absolutely no respect for human rights and the illegal trafficking of migrants. I think that it is quite the contrary, because, if we compare European legislation to Nigerien legislation, I think that we are more advanced in regard to coverage for the migrants who are the victims of trafficking or smuggling.

The people whom we are looking for in our investigations and seek to suppress are not the migrants but the “passeurs”.

Who are the passers?

They are the people who plan the journeys of the migrants… and they are exposed to mistreatment and even prostitution. It is not easy to uncover these cases, especially when the migrants do not see themselves as victims and do not cooperate with the organisation in any way. They consent to be the victims of this offence. We are working to fight against these phenomena, by always protecting the migrants against the passers. These passers are sentenced to terms of imprisonment that are sometimes 15 to 20 years.

When they are arrested, the passers go into preventive detention. In the case of the migrants, they are questioned about their situation and put into administrative detention if they are found to be in an irregular situation. They are treated in the most appropriate way possible so that they are cared for: their food and some basic needs are covered. Also, they are given access to their families or consulates and the media if they demand this. They receive visits and medical care and later on they are normally turned over to international organisations like the International Office for Migration (IOM) for voluntary return to their country of origin.

In the case of asylum seekers, we have what we call the Directorate General of Migration, which is part of the Ministry of the Interior. We send them directly from the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST), through the International Office for Migration (IOM) or ACNUR, the UN High Commission for Refugees, so that they are taken care of and, if their application is justified, the State of Niger normally grants them asylum without any difficulty.

Migrants sometimes do not know that they are part of a people trafficking network and they do not know that there is someone earning a lot of money from their suffering. Do you know of any cases?

That is a difficult question, because there can be several answers. There are those who know that they are risking their lives, their dignity, their fortunes, and there are those who do not.

In regard to the initial exploitation by passers, who profit from moving migrants, I can give you an example of a route between Burkina Faso and Niamey. Transport costs at most 5,000 CFA francs, which is less than 5 euros, but the migrants are willing to pay over 100 euros to travel this route. They know that it is cheaper, but the passers convince them that, if they take the official route through the police, with the cases of expulsion that occur these days, they will be expelled. So, the idea has spread but it is better to trust the passers than the police.

For those who are more aware of what might happen to them, the end justifies the means. Some know that they are running a risk, but as there is a lack of job creation programmes, for example, they think it is better to die than stay at home doing nothing. Some do not know exactly what to expect because the passers make them believe that they are going to Paradise, that when they get to Europe there will be jobs waiting for them, that there are many vacancies just waiting for their arrival to be filled.

In the case of those who are victims of trafficking, very often they do consent to it,for example, in the case of prostitution. There are some people who know that they’re going to have to be prostitutes but, sometimes, they were already obliged to do so in their own countries because they had no alternative.

What do Nigeriens think of what is happening with migration and all the measures that are being implemented to prevent people from dying in the desert?

When you say “Nigeriens”, public opinion in Niger includes those who are in the migrant trafficking business. Those who are in the business think that, to date, the state has done them considerable harm, since it has hampered their activities through repression and awareness raising. There are many who want to give up trafficking but they think that they have not found a social alternative for it.

To know what public opinion in Niger is like, the answer is clear: if we look at the statistics there are very few Nigerians who are candidates for clandestine migration. However, there are many who ask why there are so many immigrants from CEDEAO countries in this type of situation, who even die in the desert. In these cases, for Nigeriens this situation has no justification.

For the passers, however, it is justified because for them the arrival of migrants in Niger is a business, and stopping it is a blow to them. It’s logical, they are like a mafia.

What are the measures that you think could prevent these people from making the decision to use this irregular system of migration?

In the first place, the suppression machine is grinding; it’s what we do every day all over the country.

The awareness-raising machine is also grinding but it’s necessary to continue raising awareness by telling people that they must find a job and not let themselves be killed or die in the desert or be exploited by passers. But specific development programmes are needed to create the greatest number of jobs possible for these people, for their individual fulfilment and social inclusion and to implement measures to prevent them from emigrating.

In this sense, there are many European companies that are suffering and that can come and invest in Africa: Africa needs them. There are raw materials and skilled manpower on the African continent. There needs to be support for the African countries, thorough investment in the industrial sector, agriculture and training to prevent much of this voluntary emigration, as there are many graduates among the migrants to Europe.

If an emigrant is, for example, an engineer, he is going to work in Europe in a job that is often far below his qualifications. If suitable conditions existed in Africa, I think that people of this kind would not migrate.