Thousands of sub-Saharan settlers were mistreated, tortured, robbed and robbed by Algerian authorities before being thrown on the desert border with Niger, according to a recent report from the international charity Medicines Sans Frontieres.
Between early January and mid-April 2021, around 4,370 migrants were expelled from Algeria to Niger; This includes one person with a gunshot wound and another with a broken leg.
“These recent expulsions are yet another reminder that despite the closure of national land borders due to COVID-19, the expulsion of migrants has not stopped,” MSF said.
According to data collected by the humanitarian association, in 2020, 23,175 migrants had arrived in Assam, a small desert town near the border between Niger and Algeria.
In 2020, the number of outpatient consultations provided by MSF was higher than the previous year, with 41,801 consultations in 2019 against 39,889.
MSF teams have collected hundreds of testimonies from migrants helped or rescued by a voluntary organization since their expulsion from Algeria. Most are from West Africa and South Asia, including young people, women, children and the elderly. Some lived in Algeria for many years before being deported, while others traveled across the country on their way to Europe.
According to their testimonies, the migrants were arrested by the Algerian security forces before being forced to board buses or trucks and detained for days, weeks or months and dropped off at what is called the ” zero point”. Everywhere in the middle of the desert border between Algeria and Niger, often at midnight.
“These arrests, detentions and expulsions by the Algerian government do not respect international human rights law and international refugee law,” said MSF chief of staff Jamal Mirz.
At the Valletta summit in 2015, European and African countries tightened their border controls and agreed to facilitate the return of illegal immigrants, voluntarily or not. As a result, immigrants are arbitrarily arrested, subjected to ill-treatment or sent back to persecuted countries.
