Algeria: Record mass expulsion of migrants to Niger in 2024 in violation of international conventions

At least 31,404 migrants were expelled by Algerian authorities to Niger’s border in 2024, in blatant violation of international conventions on migrants’ rights.

These figures were disclosed by NGO Alarme Phone Sahara which said that over 26,000 migrants from this landlocked West African country were abandoned by Algeria in desert borders with Niger in lamentable conditions.

Alarme Phone Sahara has strongly condemned the ruthless summary Algerian deportation policy and the inhumane treatment of sub-Saharan African migrants, resulting in several death cases.

Algerian security forces regularly carry out raids and mass arrests in places where migrants live and work, including construction sites and empty buildings.

According to the ONG, some wounded, exhausted and sick migrants were dropped by Algerian security forces in the desert border area in a life-threatening situation.

Last April, Niger government summoned Algeria’s ambassador to protest against the violent treatment suffered by Nigerien migrants in southern Algeria.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), “Doctors without Borders” and several NGOs had decried these “unjustified and xenophobic acts” against Sub-Saharan migrants who were dumped by Algeria in the harsh desert on the border with Niger.