The world in modern day error is witnessing unprecedented levels of racial discrimination, torture of migrant workers, and black people forcing themselves to countries where they are immediately declared illegal immigrants upon arrival. In Africa, borders are closed to fellow Africans yet easily open to Europeans who make it even harder for Africans to access visas to their countries. A Senegalese may not receive a visa on arrival in Tanzania yet a citizen of the United Kingdom can. migrant workers’ rights violations in the Middle East is on the worrying end. The climate crisis is worsening forcing many to flee harsh weather, yet multinational companies from Europe and the US that are contributors to this crisis are not willing to meet the costs of the damage caused by their businesses.  Tribal and civil tensions are worsening unwanted migration. With regional economic integration, young men and women who are attempting to partake in cross border businesses are harassed, financially exploited and thrown into jails in their fellow African countries yet mechanisms to facilitate cross border trade have been put in place that TRANET-Africa is trying to fix. 

While we are actively advocating for policies that enhance job creation within the African continent, creating awareness about irregular migration, human trafficking and advocating for migrant workers’ rights as well as fair cross border business and migration policies in the context of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTCA), we need your help to make our efforts go even further!

 We are reminded of the many hundreds and thousands of young men and women from the globe and Africa that are dying trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea into European countries where they are unwelcome. For those who are lucky to make it to Europe, they become illegal immigrants residing in the train stations, streets and the worst turn into crime where they find themselves in jails. In other African countries south of the Sahara, young men and women are spending their little resources to book their places in the Middle East and or the gulf corporation council countries where majority of them end up being turned into modern slaves enduring 18-20 hours of work every day with rest of two hours at the most. For those who are unlucky, they find themselves tortured to death. Many of them return in coffins in cargo planes yet they left in passenger planes. 
Unless massive awareness is created to encourage young people to explore alternative employment and income generating opportunities as opposed to seeking for “greener pastures” in countries where they are treated as animals and empower organizations supporting young people, as well as demand for the upholding of the rights of migrant workers world over, we shall have many of our brothers and sisters coming back as cargo in coffins. 

You can help us solve the problem of Africans forcing themselves into countries where they are unwanted, foster even more awareness about the worsening situation of migrant workers in the middle east, advocate for policies and laws that foster fair cross border movement of services and goods that are hindering effective trade and access to opportunities for specially the youth majority of whom are unemployed and a time bomb waiting to explode if opportunities are not immediately created for them that we are trying to fix. Your support is crucial to our efforts to ending young men and women dying in the mediteranian and the middle East.

In 2022, we launched the Migrant Workers Matter Campaign, a global campaign to raise awareness about the human rights violations of migrant workers in the Middle East, create awareness among the communities to follow legitimate recruitment procedures to the Middle East and demand for policy and legal reforms on the recruitment management and handling of migrant workers in the home countries and destination countries respectively. Through the campaign, countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have made significant immigration policies where migrant workers can now transfer their services from one sponsor to the other without the permission of the current sponsor. This has helped migrant workers to slightly escape unfair working environments. 
A problem however still exists, the Kefala system used in the gulf countries including Saudi Arabia still requires migrant workers to have their immigration statuses attached to a sponsor as opposed to having their visas issued by the immigration department of the government. The system requires the sponsors to confiscate the travel documents of migrant workers which is against international law and equivalent to human trafficking. With all these open challenges, the situation of migrant workers can only be improved if we have sufficient financial support to undertake advocacy at the United Nations, Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union among others. 

TRANET-Africa is host and coordinator of the Global Migrant Network (GLOMINET), a coalition of organizations fighting against human trafficking, fostering protection of migrant workers, anti-racism and empowering young people in their home countries as well advocating for creation of opportunities that reduce outward migration.  In 2017, we mobilized organizations across the globe and we received positive feedback from the Caribbean, Africa, middle east and UK.