A/HRC/41/38/Add.1 Common Security and Defence Policy mission in the Niger plays a prominent role. In 2015, the European Union changed the objective of the mission to include the prevention of irregular migration. Hence, in the framework of development cooperation and the strengthening of security and military capacities of the Niger, the European Union has included the fight against irregular migration, for example linking development cooperation to the control and readmission of migrants. 27 38. Although key State officials stressed that the objective of reducing migration towards the north is mainly a national policy decision, the Special Rapporteur noted the role and the responsibility of the European Union in that regard. Indeed, several sources acknowledged that migration management in the Niger was heavily influenced and guided primarily by the demands of the European Union and its member States to control migration in exchange for financial support. In that respect, the Special Rapporteur recalls that States should refrain from making development aid conditional on migration management, especially when the latter leads to human rights violations (see A/HRC/38/41).28 2. Readmission agreements 39. In 2014, the Niger and Algeria reached an agreement on the forced return of Nigerien nationals, mostly women, who were engaged in street begging in Algeria. Subsequently, Algeria started to also expel other Nigerien migrants and their families, which prompted further discussions and commitments among the Nigerien and Algerian authorities. As a result, since 2014, 35,598 Nigerien migrants have been expelled from Algeria, and the number has increased steadily each year (from 1,354 in 2014 to 12,177 in the first nine months of 2018).29 These agreements are not public – apparently they are not even in writing, which raises serious concerns in terms of transparency and accountability. 40. Reportedly, based on these agreements, with very short notice, Algerian authorities inform Nigerien authorities of the arrival of official convoys of Nigerien migrants and their families in Assamaka, the Nigerien town closest to the border with Algeria. Once in Assamaka, the Nigerien migrants are transported to Agadez, from where they are returned to their regions and communities of origin. In the absence of individual risk assessments and due process guarantees, these forced returns amount to collective expulsions and are contrary to international law, including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which both Algeria and the Niger have ratified. The Nigerien authorities have expressed concern to the Algerian authorities about the conditions in which Nigerien migrants are returned from Algeria. 41. IOM and other humanitarian actors declined to support these operations as being contrary to international law. However, once the expulsions of Nigeriens began, IOM started to provide them with humanitarian assistance upon their arrival in the Niger to address their very destitute and extremely difficult conditions. Therefore, as part of the IOM Migrant Resource and Response Mechanism, and in collaboration with Nigerien authorities, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and various NGOs, IOM provides basic humanitarian assistance (e.g., tents, mats, sanitary kits, blankets and mattresses) to Nigerien migrants upon their arrival in Agadez, before they are returned to their villages of origin, mainly in Zinder region. While these efforts are important to cover immediate humanitarian needs, they are usually not followed by more long-term human rights-based reintegration programmes and independent mechanisms to monitor the human rights of returned migrants and ensure their access to complaint mechanisms and remedies. Several sources reported that some forcibly returned Nigerien migrants tend to emigrate again. 42. Furthermore, since 2017, Algeria has been conducting collective expulsions of nonNigerien migrants (mainly from ECOWAS countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Nigeria) without any notice – which has prompted numerous protests from the 27 28 29 10 Hamadou, “La géstion des flux migratoires au Niger”, p. 11. See also Tubiana, Warin and Saeneen, Multilateral Damage. Estimates provided by IOM Niger during the visit of the Special Rapporteur.