Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
33
which migrants can also attempt to travel by land into the Spanish enclaves) and Libya, though
all of the North African countries have been used as departure points.70 Due to insecurity in
Libya, for example, many smugglers are using Egypt as a transit point for forced and
nonforced migrants.71
The perception of North Africa as a transit point or destination is often blurred by migrants’
nonlinear journeys through the region. Many migrants may plan to spend varying amounts of
time in a “transit” country so that they can earn money to pay for the next step of the
journey.72 Others may end up “stuck” in a country of transit for a protracted period or semi-
permanent due to the tightening of European border controls and the costliness of onward
travel.73 Finally, other migrants may still be pushed to travel farther afield because they do not
find the anticipated livelihood opportunities or protection in their first destination. The most
prominent example of this is Libya, where growing instability has placed migrants at risk of
rape, abduction, detention, forced labor, torture, religious persecution, and even death.74 Due
to these abuses some migrants who began their journeys for economic reasons may become
de facto forced migrants, resorting to onward movements for their own safety and wellbeing.
2.3.2. Protection frameworks in North Africa
The countries of North Africa have generally respected the principle of nonrefoulement and
are parties to the 1951 Convention (with some exceptions). Overall, regional arrangements
have tended to play a larger role in determining the approach towards refugee and migration
issues in North Africa.
A growing dedication to asylum legislation
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have all signed and ratified the 1951 Convention, making
Libya the sole North African country not to do so. Additionally, all five countries are parties to
the 1969 OAU Convention.75
However, no country in North Africa has yet developed a comprehensive national asylum
system. Algeria, Egypt and Libya all guarantee the right to asylum in either their constitution
or national law but have not created formal institutions through which asylum claims can be
processed. There are signs this is changing as North Africa grows into a destination for
migrants. Both Morocco and Tunisia are currently drafting legislation and building new
institutions that purport to create national asylum regimes (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of
this process in Morocco).
70 See Section IX of this chapter for a more in depth discussion of these sea routes.
71 Francesco Guarascio, “Egypt migrant departures stir new concern in Europe,” Reuters, February 28, 2016,
Hazel Haddon, “For Eritreans, Egypt is the
new route to Europe,” IRIN News, June 6, 2016,
Al Jazeera America, “For refugees, the ‘trip of death’ begins on Egypt’s beaches,” January 17, 2015,
72 Malakooti and Benattia, Mixed Migration: Libya at the Crossroads , 73; Benattia, Armitano, and Robinson, Irregular
Migration between West Africa, North Africa and the Mediterranean, 21
73 This phenomenon has been especially observed in Morocco. Myriam Cherti and Peter Grant, The Myth of Transit: Sub-
Saharan Migration in Morocco (London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 2013), 9,
74 Amnesty International, “Refugees and migrants fleeing sexual violence, abuse and exploitation in Libya,” updated July 1,
2016,
Amnesty International, “Libya: new testimonies reveal horrors inflicted on refugees and migrants by
traffickers,” (press release July 1, 2016),
75 Though Morocco withdrew from the OAU in 1984 for political reasons, it has never formally repudiated its commitment
to the 1969 OAU Convention. See Chapter 3 for a discussion of migration legislation in Morocco.