The Ecowas Court of Justice called to judge the legality of the law criminalising transit in the country.
The press conference will be held online, 22 September 2022 at 11:00 am.
Niger is one of the main partners of the European Union, particularly Italy, in the implementation of border externalisation policies.
Since 2016, it has in fact been transformed, thanks to substantial European economic contributions, into a stalemate for movements from West Africa towards North Africa and Europe.
ASGI over the past year, together with a pool of Nigerian, Niger and OMCT jurists, has supported the Association Malienne des Expulsés and Alarm Phone Sahara in filing an appeal to the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States against Niger Law No. 36 of 2015. The law, significantly called the ‘Valletta’ law by some members of Niger’s civil society, is one of the main instruments to combat the transit of migrants in the country. Its implementation has, over the past six years, led to the multiplication of violations of freedom of movement in the ECOWAS area and exposed people in transit to violence, abuse and torture.
Now the ECOWAS Court of Justice is called upon to analyse its legitimacy also against the right to freedom of movement in the sub-region.
