Following a joint three-day visit to Niger, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, António Vitorino, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, have called for more international support to address the challenges faced by migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people, as well as vulnerable host communities.
“Niger deserves much more from the international community,” said the High Commissioner for Refugees. “This must be translated into financial aid,” as the country lacks resources to face the humanitarian challenges caused by instability in neighbouring states.
Grandi said the joint visit will “strengthen the operational linkages between the two [UN] organizations, so that we can be more effective in aiding persons on the move, as well as the Government and people of Niger,” because migration and refugee flows are intimately connected in Niger.
Niger is located along complex migration routes and is also hit by conflict that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, as well as Nigeria. Moreover, Niger welcomes thousands of migrants, while many others travelling through the country on their way to North African countries often wind up trapped in the desert, abused by trafficking and smuggling organizations, and in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
