A/HRC/41/38/Add.1 Nigerien authorities to their Algerian counterparts, as well as calls on Algeria from OHCHR, United Nations human rights mechanisms and international NGOs to cease the collective expulsions. 30 The Special Rapporteur regrets that no formal protest has been made by ECOWAS or the member States concerned. 43. Based on IOM estimates, between September 2017 and July 2018, at least 6,441 West African migrants, mainly from Mali and Guinea, were expelled from Algeria to the Niger, with a peak of expulsions in the second quarter of 2018. The migrants were rounded up by the Algerian police in their workplaces or homes, including in the middle of the night, beaten up, arrested and brought to police stations, detained, identified, deprived of their personal belongings and savings, loaded in buses and transported to Tamanrasset, the last Algerian city before the border with the Niger. Once in Tamanrasset, the non-Nigerien migrants were put in trucks in unsafe and inhuman conditions and dropped on the so-called point zero, 15 km from the border with the Niger. From there, migrant women, children and men were forced to walk in the desert for approximately 25 km to Assamaka. 44. Due to its limited capacities, the Government of the Niger relies on other actors, especially IOM, to address the situation of non-Nigerien migrants expelled from Algeria. In this respect, the IOM search and rescue operations within the Nigerien territory play a key role. Search and rescue teams actively seek information, in Tamanrasset, Assamaka and along the migration routes, regarding imminent expulsions of migrants from Algeria. When such information is confirmed, IOM launches search and rescue operations to find and assist migrants who have been abandoned in the desert. When IOM is not notified of the expulsions, many of the expelled migrants walk to Assamaka, where they can receive humanitarian assistance from IOM (e.g., water, food and emergency medical and psychological assistance). Both rescued migrants and those who turn to IOM for assistance are also offered transport to Arlit, the closest urban centre to Assamaka, where IOM has one of its six transit centres. This humanitarian assistance is offered by IOM to all migrants abandoned in the desert, regardless of whether or not they sign up for the assisted voluntary return programme. Since the beginning of the search and rescue operations in April 2016 until September 2018, IOM has assisted 8,569 migrants (7,805 non-Nigeriens and 764 Nigeriens) at the border between Algeria and the Niger. 45. The Special Rapporteur recalls that the expulsions from Algeria to the Niger are in flagrant violation of international law, including the prohibition of collective expulsions, the fundamental principle of non-refoulement and due process guarantees, and urges the Government of Algeria to abide by its international obligations and halt with immediate effect all collective expulsions of migrants to the Niger. In addition, he calls on ECOWAS and its member States to deploy all necessary efforts, including in the framework of the African Union, to halt the expulsions and provide the necessary assistance, including consular assistance in the Niger, and access to justice and remedies to their nationals expelled from Algeria. 3. Returns 46. In a regional context characterized by the strengthening of border control to curb and prevent migration to Europe, collective expulsions from Algeria and systematic human 30 United Nations special procedure mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, sent a communication to the Government of Algeria on 17 August 2018 (DZA 3/2018). In its reply of 11 October 2018, the Government responded that the expelled migrants had been “illegal” and had been compromising public security and order. Furthermore, Algeria stated that the Nigerien migrants who had been expelled were victims of criminal networks, while those stranded in the desert had been abandoned by transnational organized crime groups involved in the illicit smuggling of migrants. The Special Rapporteur recalls that based on international human rights law, migrant persons, regardless of their status, are entitled to enjoy their human rights, including nonrefoulement and due process guarantees. See also OHCHR press briefing note on Algeria of 22 May 2018, and Amnesty International, “Forced to leave: stories of injustice against migrants in Algeria”, December 2018. 11