The Ministers of Foreign affairs and Ministers of Internal affairs from Germany, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Spain, Guinea, France, Italy, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad; as well as representatives of the European Union, United Nations, African Union Commission; and the secretaries of G5 Sahel and CENSAD met in Niamey on the 16th of March 2018, upon invitation of Niger, acting president of the G5 Sahel, to enhance coordination concerning the fight against illegal trafficking in persons and smuggling of human beings between countries of origin, countries of transit and countries of arrival.

The International Organization for Migrations (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) were also part of the meeting. The participants agreed on the following actions:

1. Reinforce the national legal frames concerning the fight against trafficking and smuggling of persons;

2. Reinforce the national operative tools against trafficking and smuggling of persons, and better coordinate the national tools at regional level;

3. Reinforce the technical and material capacities of the national defense and security forces in charge of fighting trafficking and smuggling of people in the countries of origin and the countries of transit;

4. Reinforce criminal justice cooperation;

5. Reinforce border controls;

6. Protect illegal migrants and victims of smuggling;

7. Ensure sustainable development and the promotion of an alternative economy in order to manage migratory flows;

8. Ensure the monitoring of the commitments.

√ The 2nd regional conference on the fight against trafficking and smuggling of persons was held in October 2019;

The conference aimed to measure the progress made in the implementation of the commitments

agreed in the Niamey Declaration, to present good practices undertaken, and to consider the

prospects for the fight against migrants smuggling and the trafficking of human beings.

The Abidjan conference was the 2nd regional consultation of its kind. It is part of the continuation of

the meeting held in Niamey on the 18th and 19th of June 2018. It aimed at discussing and evaluating

the concrete implementation of the recommendations developed on five main pillars in the joint

ministerial declaration. Namely, strengthening national legislative frameworks, national operational

mechanisms and regional coordination, judicial cooperation and border control.