The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad (MoFA) has concluded a three-day intensive training on missing migrants in The Gambia.
The training, held at Sunset Beach Hotel in Kotu, was conducted under the project “Capacity Building of Missing Migrants National Focal Points in Rabat Process Partner Countries (Mauritania and The Gambia)” — funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
The objective is to strengthen national capacity to prevent migrant deaths and disappearances, improve search and identification, enhance case management, and provide coordinated support to families of missing migrants.
The course brought together government institutions, law enforcement agencies, humanitarian organisations, civil society, and key stakeholders in migration governance and protection.
Participants reviewed good practices, policy frameworks, and collaborative approaches to tackling missing migrant cases in The Gambia and along perilous migration routes.
Speaking at the opening, Sibgha Ajaz, Officer-in-Charge of IOM The Gambia, revealed the scale of the tragedy.
“Since 2014, roughly 250 Gambians have died or gone missing on these irregular journeys,” she said.
Ajaz stressed that no single institution can handle the crisis alone.
“This is not something which is a single institution or a partner’s job. A critical element of this course is how partners come together to address this topic,” she said.
She called for stronger coordination among government, civil society, the media, and Gambian embassies and consulates abroad.
“Only then can we effectively build responses. But at the heart of these responses has to be the well-being and support of families of the missing persons,” Ajaz added.
Director of Diaspora and Migration at MoFA, Ndumbeh Saho, said The Gambia must act faster and smarter when a migrant goes missing.
She called for robust information sharing, ante-mortem and post-mortem data collection, identification, family tracing, and dignified communication with families.
“Our approach must remain firmly grounded in respect for human rights, confidentiality, dignity and the particular needs of families searching for their loved ones,” Saho said.
From the frontlines, Saibo Drammeh, Counsellor at The Gambia’s Embassy in Madrid, identified the core obstacle: lack of documentation. Many Gambian migrants arrive in Spain without ID, making tracing and identification almost impossible when they disappear.
The training drilled participants on search and identification procedures, case management, legal frameworks, family assistance, and cross-border cooperation.
For The Gambia — where irregular migration remains tied to youth aspirations — strengthening systems for tracking missing migrants is no longer optional. It is urgent.