https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67550481
Now overthrown Nigerian President Bazoum implemented a law in 2015 that would criminalize the smuggling and human trafficking of Nigerians through Libya and to Europe. The coup government revoked this law, claiming that it didn’t “take into account the interests of Niger and its citizens”, and that all criminals convicted under this crime would have their records erased. The EU has stopped all security presences in Niger along with financial aid to the country. Niger, a landlocked country located in the Sahel region, was known for its copious amounts of migrants that moved to Europe, so the mass migration that might result from this overturned law might prove difficult for the EU to manage.
The international community has yet to make a statement regarding this event, but we can predict that they won’t support this change because it will negatively affect Europe and it was done by a coup government that isn’t liked in the first place. Furthermore, the traffickers will likely start up their business again now that it technically isn’t illegal to do so. The undeveloped state that Niger is in right now makes this opportunity stand out to the many poor people who stood to make a profit before the law was enacted. A Nigerian citizen even claimed, “If the law was eased I would go back to people trafficking, that’s for sure. It earned me as much as $6,000 [£4,700] a week, far more money than anything I can do now,” demonstrating the desperate state that people are in right now. This event could be seen as an act of opposition to those who are against the new government since it’ll get a bad reaction. The logic behind the overturning confuses me a little bit, though. Why would the coup government want their people to leave the country? Do they still want to rebuild their country, albeit getting to this position in a violent manner?
In class, we have talked about the different liberal IR theories, one of which includes postcolonialism studies– the study of how Western imperialism has an effect on IR today. The distant view that Niger’s new government has on world affairs and their lack of caring about what other countries think. This stance that Niger takes is likely a cause of the imperialism that was enforced on them in the past and how they’re trying to separate themselves from the West to rebuild their country without Western influence. This idea showed when they tried to kick out France back when the coup started.