An employment office in Bamako: the European Union’s transformation of Mali into a migration control laboratory

Abstract:

Off the African coast the European border agency FRONTEX is forcing migrants back to the mainland with the aid of ships and helicopters. Morocco, Libya and other states receive benefits for helping the Europeans to keep the sub-Saharan migrants at arms length. African coastal states deport refugees and migrants and Mali is increasingly becoming the hinterland at whose borders they are dumped. Mali is not only a country of origin but also one of transit for Africans on route to Europe.