Over 600 returnees in 2023, 9000 Gambians arrive in Europe

“In 2023, there have been 614 returnees recorded,” Brigandi stated in an email response sent to the EU Delegation in The Gambia on Monday.

The Gambia and the EU had agreed to a “good practice” in relation to the thousands of potential returnees in refugee camps across Europe. This followed both bilateral and multilateral engagements between Banjul and Brussels following the change in government in 2017.

“All countries have an obligation under international law to the readmission of their own nationals. In order to proceed with these readmissions, there is indeed a good practice agreed to set up a technical framework of the operations (identifying the persons, providing them with identity documents, granting the landing permits to the charters flights…) between The Gambia, the EU Member States and the EU, in order to repatriate efficiently and readmit those persons that have exhausted their legal remedies to remain in one of the Member States,” the deputy chief of mission explained.

The admissibility of Gambian nationals from the EU had been a bond of contention between Banjul and Brussels, leading to the EU visa restrictions imposed on The Gambia, for its failure to take responsibility for her citizens in EU refugee centres across European cities. These restrictions included about a 40 per cent increase in visa fees, from €80 to €120 per applicant, and a duration of between 40 to 60 days visa application time for both ordinary and diplomatic passport holders, as well as others that would have made it difficult for other Gambian nationals in Europe to continue enjoying their residency incentives in the EU.

“All countries have an obligation under international law to the readmission of their own nationals. In order to proceed with these readmissions, there is indeed a good practice agreed to set up a technical framework of the operations (identifying the persons, providing them with identity documents, granting the landing permits to the chartered flights…) between The Gambia, the EU Member States and the EU in order to repatriate efficiently and readmit those persons that have exhausted their legal remedies to remain in one of the Member States,” the diplomat said yesterday.

Gambian Arrivals in EU

On arrivals of Gambians in the EU, Mr Brigandi confirmed the figure of (more than) 9, 000 Gambians who actually arrived in Europe in 2023.

“Yes, the good cooperation on readmissions conditions, the easing and eventually the lifting of restrictive visa measures.  The cooperation is regularly assessed and discussed with the government to that end,” Brigandi said.

A dedicated mapping system of the EU border control agency, Frontex, called Migratory Map  (www.frontex.europa.eu ) records and make this information about arrivals of all natioanls into EU public. In this database, a click on The Gambia and reveals a table of all arrivals into the EU, including both the regular and irregular routes.

Sum of 2015 = 8, 874

Sum of 2016 = 12, 927

Sum of 2017 = 8,522

Sum of 2018 = 2,780

Sum of 2019 = 394

Sum of 2020= 307

Sum of 2021 = 540

Sum of 2022 = 1,326

Sum of 2023 = 9, 247

Sum of Jan-April 2024 = 1078

From 2015 to 2022 alone, a total of 35, 670 Gambians have arrived in the EU.

Costs of Deportation Flights

According to data sourced from official EU member states such as Germany, chartered flights for decorations on average cost 301.519,17 € each (more than the flights in 2022.

In comparison, it costs the EU on average €12.968,57 for each individual deported ( costs are slightly less than in 2023).

“There were at least 12 flights in 2023 between January and October 2023, with 279 returnees on board. Overall, there were 357 Gambians deported to the Gambia within the 10 months, the difference probably travelled on commercial flight.

On average a little under three police staff accompany each deported person (slightly less than in 2023. And as said before, the real costs for each deported individual are of course higher than only those costs (e.g. the personnel, car etc involved in collecting them, keeping them in detention centers, etc.) prior to flights back to Gambia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad officials were not available for comments on the number of landing permits processed during the months under review.