The article ‘What happens after victims of trafficking return to Nigeria?’, published on 16 April 2019 by openDemocracy on the status of voluntary Nigerian returning migrants from Norway in 2016, has caught our attention. This is a summarised version of another article, dated 29 April 2018, published by the Anti-Trafficking Review.
The report, authored by Sine Plambech, Erlend Paasche and May-Len Skilbrei rightly highlights some of the challenges involved with large caseloads of vulnerable migrants voluntarily returning to Nigeria. However, we are dismayed by various inaccuracies to which we would like to respond.
The article begins with the premise that the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) assisted voluntary return and reintegration programme (AVRR) is aimed at enacting migration control. Far from stopping migration, this programme aims to ensure that migrants receive a safe and dignified return when they are unable or unwilling to remain in the host or transit countries, and that they are then supported in achieving sustainable reintegration in full respect for human rights. In Nigeria we have pursued this mission since 2001.
