A/HRC/17/33/Add.2 13. Senegal hosts a number of stranded migrants, including rejected asylum-seekers and refugees for whom refugee status has ceased to apply, mostly from West Africa. Such migrants may face particular vulnerabilities as a result of being caught in transit without any means to travel to their destination or back to their country of origin. 14. The first Senegalese reaching Europe through organized migration frameworks joined the French colonial army. After leaving the army, many ex-soldiers found employment at Marseille harbour, which became a centre for the Senegalese community in Europe. Given its position as the former colonial power of Senegal, France long remained the most important country of destination in Europe for Senegalese migrants, who were involved in particular in trade between Europe and Africa. Now Senegalese migrants are found in a number of European countries, including Italy and Spain, as well as in other regions. 15. In 2004 the Ministry of Senegalese Abroad estimated that there were 648,600 Senegalese emigrants (stock) representing 4.48 per cent of the population. According to the Second Senegalese Household Survey, 54 per cent of the Senegalese who emigrated between 1999 and 2004 went either to Europe (46 per cent) or to the United States of America (8 per cent), whereas 44 per cent went to other countries in Africa, either within the ECOWAS area or elsewhere. The preference of European Union countries as a migration destination was first observed in the 1990s, and there seems to have been no change in the trend. It was estimated that neighbouring countries, such as the Gambia, Mali and Mauritania, hosted approximately 40 per cent of Senegalese migrants. According to the same survey, women accounted for 16 per cent of the migrant population from Senegal between 1992 and 1997. Upon departure they were on average younger than men.2 In addition 45.9 per cent of the emigrants who left between 1997 and 2002 were working before their departure and 29 per cent were looking for jobs. 16. One of the elements of the European Union strategy to secure external borders was the creation of a body - the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex) - that aims to coordinate and enhance border security by ensuring the coordination of Member States’ operational cooperation. In 2008 Frontex collated and analysed information from European Union States related to the detection of irregular border crossings at the external sea and land borders of the European Union. Frontex indicated that Spain reported the detection of 16,200 irregular border crossings at its sea borders. Compared with 2007, the number of irregular arrivals in the Canary Islands had decreased to 9,200 (down 26 per cent).3 The Government of Spain reported that in 2008 irregular border crossing at the Canary Islands had decreased by 25 per cent compared to the 2007 figures. During the first six months of 2008, 1,600 migrants arrived, compared to 4,114 during the same period the previous year.4 In April and May of 2009 no irregular border crossings were reported in the Canary Islands. B. Remittances 17. A comprehensive evaluation of the amount of remittances from migrants is still difficult, given that the vast majority of such remittances reach Senegal through unofficial 2 3 4 Joint UNDP-UN-INSTRAW Project: Gender and Remittances: Building Gender-Responsive Local Development, “Genre, transfert de fonds de la migration et développement: le cas de la Moyenne vallée du fleuve au Sénégal”, March 2009, p. 14. Frontex, “General report 2008” (2009), p. 8. Spain, “Encuentro con la prensa”, press release, 30 July 2009, p. 3. 5