Many believe that Africa and Europe must create a common narrative around migration, on an equal footing, instead of turning to a story of creating walls, deterrence measures and pushbacks. . Indeed, for those responsible for the OPPORTUNITIES Project, it is only by working together, with the contribution of everyone, NGOs and universities, that we will be able to meet all the challenges, produce a common discourse between the North and the South; giving a voice to migrants and candidates for migration; encourage dialogue. They carried out a series of activities for a week in three regions of Senegal (Saint-Louis, Louga and Dakar) with the support of the Laboratory of Studies and Research on Gender, Environment, Religion and Migrations (GERM) from the Gaston Berger University (UGB) of Saint-Louis.
At a press conference yesterday, Monday September 30, 2024, Michel Debruyne, Coordinator of the OPPORTUNITIES Project, Brussels and Aly Tandian, Director of GERM-Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, presented the results of their research work. “Our research showed two important things. We need the right words and the right speeches; we must hear everyone’s voice and have an honest dialogue,” said Michel Debruyne, OPPORTUNITIES Project Coordinator.
Contact with young Senegalese allowed them to really understand what is going on in the minds of these young people who want to go to Europe. “We spoke with these young people who made drawings and the word silence was omnipresent in all of these drawings. And the common point of our dialogue with all these young people from Africa and Europe is the right to mobility”he added.
Today, the observation is that migration is at the heart of the future concerns of these young people. “Regarding motivations and aspirations, we were able to understand that our young people are deeply interested in these questions of migration because it is a theme that is discussed in their families but also through social networks”explained Aly Tandian, Director of GERM/UGB.
International migration was considered, in the United Nations World Development Program report, as an essential factor in human development. Public opinions and governments often struggle to accept certain realities, such as the objective of living together in a cosmopolitan world, the need to revisit citizenship or even the influence of sending States in the management of migration. Faced with this situation, migration policies are often out of step with the reality of flows. It is around these paradoxes that migrations take place, in their diversity and complexity.
Senegal does not escape these paradoxes because it faces numerous challenges linked to migration. “A challenge arises every day on the Senegalese coasts: young people leave and many perish. Senegal must formulate its own response. Its own response can only come if we engage in dialogue together.
Remember that the OPPORTUNITIES consortium brings together eight European partners from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania, as well as three African partners from Ghana, Senegal and Mauritania. The main objective of this interdisciplinary collaboration is to initiate changes in attitudes and perspectives on dominant discourses on migration in the European public sphere, among others.
YVES TENDENG
