African perspectives: holding a mirror up to Europe’s migration policies

Before taking up his new role at the University of the Gambia, Mbakeh Camara built up experience in social enterprise across a variety of sectors. Prior to moving to the UK for postgraduate study, he set up ‘Be Inspired Internationally’ – a youth empowerment initiative aimed at discouraging young people from undertaking the dangerous passage to Europe through Libya and the Mediterranean Sea by creating opportunities at home in the Gambia. More recently, he founded Wisdom Superfoods. Wisdom’s business model revolves around selling organic, fair trade, healthy food, sourced from low income communities in the Gambia, and returning the added value to those communities through the work of the Be Inspired Internationally charity.

Heaven Crawley leads Coventry University’s UKRI GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub (MIDEQ), a global consortium aiming to transform knowledge and understanding of the relationships between migration, inequality and development in the context of the Global South. Crawley has published extensively on a wide range of asylum and immigration issues including the drivers of migration and migrant decision-making, gender issues in forced migration, refugee and migrant rights, the experiences of children and young people on the move, attitudes towards migration and migrants, and the politics of migration policymaking. From 2015-18 her work focused primarily on the experiences of those crossing the Mediterranean during Europe’s so-called ‘migration crisis’ and the failures of politicians, policymakers and the media to accurately reflect and respond to evidence on its causes and consequences.

Koffi de Lome Nyonator founded African Lives Matter to highlight the issues faced by Africans that frequently go ignored in Europe, as well as to promote the empowerment of Africans around the globe. His current focus is on the slave trade practiced in parts of Libya, and he has organised demonstrations across the United Kingdom to bring attention to this issue. Nyonator advises a number of African governments, and is a passionate believer in a Pan-African approach to anti-imperialism.

During Swedish politician Kenneth Johannesson’s time as a regional representative to the Assembly of European Regions (AER), he has served as a Member of the Committee on Social Policy and Public Health, as well as of the Community Advisory Board of the Access to services for Migrants with Disabilities (AMiD) project. The latter aims to develop a Needs Assessment Tool to empower local actors to assess and support migrants and refugees with disabilities, potentially serving as the basis for a common EU approach to the issue. Prior to entering political life, Johannesson worked as a schoolteacher and headmaster.

Natasha Kimani is a lawyer with extensive experience in constitution implementation, devolution and public policy and governance in East Africa. She has developed and reviewed national and regional policies and legislation relating to security, devolution and public finance. Kimani is also an Academy Fellow at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where she focuses on gender-responsive devolution in Kenya and East African affairs

Anna Knoll coordinates and leads ECDPM’s work on migration and has responsibility for developing analytical content relating to migration and development, EU migration policies, Europe-Africa cooperation, and African migration strategies. Her current research focuses on African narratives, policies and migration processes, as well as the interaction between the EU’s migration, displacement and development policies. Prior to joining ECDPM, Knoll worked as the German Fellow at the UN World Food Programme and at the European Commission.

Formerly serving as Chief of Cabinet in Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Communications, Issiaka Konaté is now responsible for the Ivorian diaspora, a demographic of which he himself was once a part, having lived and worked for eighteen years in London. Prior to joining the government, he opened and managed the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung’s Abidjan office, where his work focused on the development and training of young leaders, as well as encouraging human rights and the rule of law. Konaté has been Côte d’Ivoire’s focal point for the Rabat Process on migration and development, and chairs the Migration Dialogue for West Africa’s group on return and reintegration.

Lul Seyoum is an activist and facilitator promoting the human rights of women. She is particularly focused on the Horn of Africa, where she was born and spent her formative years. In partnership with Initiatives of Change, she hosts training sessions on leadership and capacity building programmes for women and emerging leaders. Although her professional experience lies in trade, her work has more recently focused on the plights of refugees throughout their journeys. She works with a range of NGOs and institutions to raise awareness of the causes of forced mass migration. In addition to her work with ICERAS, Seyoum supports United Against Inhumanity in its mission to give a voice to those who have suffered the inhumanity of war and forced migration.

Giulia Tranchina is a solicitor in the immigration department at Wilson Solicitors, specialising in asylum and human rights law. She has in-depth experience in a wide range of complex asylum claims, including for unaccompanied minors and detained clients. She has as well represented a number of clients in judicial review claims involving the Dublin Regulations, particularly in relation to Italy. With special expertise in African politics, Tranchina has played a central role in exposing the human rights violations and inhumane conditions under which refugees are suffering in Libyan detention centres. Aside from her casework, she works closely with the South London Refugee Association helping unaccompanied minors from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan and provides regular training at the Santé Refugee Mental Health Project charity.