Photo credit: AP News
The European Union has given a UN-affiliated body hundreds of millions of dollars to help thousands of African migrants return from failed journeys to Europe and support them back home.
But migrants tell the Associated Press that promises by the United Nations-affiliated organization are not fulfilled, leaving them to face trauma, debt and family shame on their own.
Over 50 of them formed a WhatsApp group around their frustration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The European Union-funded IOM program pays for return flights and promises follow-up assistance for the migrants.
One of the migrants, Oumar Bella Diallo, said he told the IOM he wanted to start a small business. But all he has received is a phone number for an IOM counsellor and a five-day orientation course for accountability, management and personal development. He said many returnees had trouble understanding it due to low education levels.
The IOM program is financed almost completely by the EU and was launched in 2016. Between 2022 and 2025, it repatriated over 100,000 sub-Saharan migrants from north Africa and Niger.
