The irregular migrant's dilemma and struggle

#FeatureByIOM - Growing up, there were local folktales that our parents shared with us to help us understand the importance of migration and how migrants contribute to the growth and development of every community. It always ended with phrases such as, "We are all migrants."

Having this knowledge as a young person made it easy for me to support migrants; it did not matter if it was internal migration or external, I had to support and care for them because I knew that they were playing vital roles and contributing to our development. My migration experience, however, has left me with a question and huge doubts.

Who is a migrant?

The International Organization for Migration defines a migrant as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a state away from their habitual place of residence, whether or not the movement is voluntary or involuntary, regardless of the cause of the movement, the person’s legal status, and how much time they’re spending in their new location.

Anyone who has moved qualifies to enjoy the advantages of migration. They also have a right to be appreciated for their contribution to their host community or country.

I know this, and I have seen it in writing, but my migratory journey has left me with questions like: why would this not apply to every migrant?

Here’s my migration story

In 2017, when I had my first terrible experience as a migrant, most migrants said it is because we are Africans or from the black race. At first, I believed, but in the long run, I saw more reasons to doubt if that was the only reason.

This article is mainly to educate those who always have the opinion that irregular migrants had a choice; therefore, they deserve whatever happens to them, even if it violates their human rights or hurts their feelings.

Before leaving Nigeria, I was promised a job that would allow me to study and build my life. I had big plans to contribute to my destination country and to my home country positively using my migration experience.

Within one month of moving, however, I became a different person. I feared everyone and everything like I was in a game where I had to fight for my life. Regular migrants and citizens often prey on these migrants. Here are some identified struggles and choices.

Exploitation

There are traffickers who kidnap or buy migrants just to keep them in debt bondage. These ones already have an uncanny way of spotting irregular migrants, as that is one of the ways to keep their illegal business going.

In my case, a driver sold me for N300,000. In the process, I met women who were already working for the trafficker. This trafficker does not give you options beyond sex trafficking and calling home to pay the ransom if you are a woman.

When people ask why those women do not choose to call home or get a job that can clear the debt, I would say calling home is not an option for many who have already borrowed before leaving. There is no option beyond working in the trafficker's house for close monitoring till he gets all his money. Sadly, you could complete your payment in no time, and instead of letting you go, they’d resell you to other traffickers. It’s a jungle out there.

Human rights abuse

Irregular migrants experience several forms of violations of their human rights in transit and in their destination countries. For example, abuse, violence, rape, inadequate health care and discrimination.

I remember an incident where we all had to help a woman deliver in detention; it was traumatizing, after a similar experience at a migrant camp. There was also this woman who had her baby with no medical aid and died hours later with her baby.

I was broken for days trying to imagine how we all worked hard and still could not save her life.

In detention, we kept pleading with the police to help take this second woman to the hospital. Her labour started at about 10 pm. She gave birth at about 5 am the following morning inside the detention room.

Remember, the trauma of the first loss led to panic, causing all of us to give her as much support as possible, especially to keep her warm, as I’d noticed that the cold contributed to the first victim's death. This is one of many emergency cases that go undocumented.

How about incidences of shooting on sight? Can I possibly tell? Many migrants attempt to run just out of basic survival instinct. The best option would have been to command them to stop, but instead, they are instantly shot at and not attended to.

As humans, we do not all operate the same way. We process things differently. My experience has created in me a hunger to solve migration problems and create survivor-led organizations to combat human trafficking and support survivors.

Many other survivors would rather transfer their pain to others in their community.

Recently, I met a group of young Nigerians who returned to Nigeria from Germany. They shared their horrifying arrest experiences and how their hands were in cuffs until they got to Nigeria.

I was lost completely in thought about how ugly it would be for these people to step into communities with this hate and anger in their spirit.

While still sharing migration experiences and plans that could help them survive now that they are back, one of them laughed and said, "If you want to migrate, just see me." I know how you can do it”.

Now it dawned on me that without rehabilitation and support, these deportees are potential smugglers and traffickers. This does not solve the problem; rather, more problems are created.

Solving these problems requires policy reviews from governments and world leaders, such as the relaxation of strict policy visas. These policies would potentially reduce the exploitation of migrant workers and end these struggles.

Irregular migrants are not less human. We only need to give them opportunities to grow.

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