Photo credit, Senegalese Press Agency
Despite the successive shipwrecks with their share of deaths which mourn families and the numerous awareness and dissuasion campaigns, departures to Europe by sea are increasing.
Young Senegalese continue to take to the sea in large numbers aboard makeshift canoes, heading for Europe.
Economic precariousness, lack of prospects, social pressure and the dream of a better life could well be the reasons for these multiple departures. Why is the risk of dying at sea not enough to deter them?
From Niodior, in the islands of Saloum, Saint-Louis, Kayar, Mbour, Joal, Tandji in Gambia, Kafountine in Casamance, the Bidjogou islands in Guinea-Bissau and other coastal localities, young people of all profiles (fishermen, precarious workers, street vendors, farmers, artisans, sometimes graduates) leave Senegal to look for better things in Europe.
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While a clear drop in departures had been observed, at least 4,918 Senegalese arrived in the Canary Islands in 2025, compared to 9,554 in 2024, a decrease of 48.5% according to the Interministerial Committee to Combat Irregular Migration (CILMI), set up in 2024.
However, the departures continue.
Behind this persistence of migration by sea several factors combine: economic despair, lack of prospects, social pressure, representations of success in Europe and distrust of future prospects in Senegal.
When shipwrecks don't dissuade you from leaving
Photo credit, Reuters
Despite the numerous shipwrecks and human losses recorded, the attraction of migration by sea remains strong in Senegal.
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After the sinking of a migrant canoe on September 8, 2024 off the coast of Mbour, which left 35 dead, including women and children, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, traveling to the scene, promised “a relentless hunt” against the smugglers.
Although several people have since been arrested, tried and sentenced, others continue to organize clandestine departures. The latest tragedy resulted in a toll just as heavy as that of Mbour in 2024.
Despite the surveillance systems put in place by the authorities, many young people remain determined to leave at all costs.
During the second half of October, the communications services of the National Gendarmerie announced the arrest of more than 300 migrants and the seizure of a large batch of equipment in the Saloum islands.
“The units of the Fatick gendarmerie company carried out three operations on October 20, 21 and 22, 2026 in their areas of competence. These operations allowed the arrest of 378 candidates for irregular emigration as well as the seizure of a large batch of equipment,” indicated the Gendarmerie.
But these arrests do not prevent departures from continuing.
Traveling to Tébène 2, a village located near Potou, the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Mouhamadou Makhtar Cissé, expressed Monday the solidarity of the State towards the families of the victims of the sinking of a canoe which occurred off the coast of Lompoul, in the department of Kébémer. The tragedy left 39 dead, 24 of whom were identified and returned to their families, as well as one survivor.
“We are at their side. We will provide them with state support,” declared Mouhamadou Makhtar Cissé, according to a report from the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).
On site, the minister also praised the work of the defense and security forces in the fight against irregular migration. According to him, a drop in departures was recorded in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period of the previous year.
Mouhamadou Makhtar Cissé also called for strengthening cooperation with the countries of the sub-region in order to better fight against illegal migration networks, which tend to move their activities to departure points located in neighboring countries.
He also announced the opening of an investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the tragedy, after the dissemination on social networks of information according to which an intervention by the French Navy caused the boat to capsize.
“Faced with this new migratory tragedy which is mourning our country, Horizons Sans Frontières (HSF) launches a solemn appeal to the Senegalese authorities to decree at least one day of national mourning, with the lowering of flags at half-mast throughout the territory, in memory of the victims of Kébémer,” declared Boubacar Sèye, researcher and consultant in international migration.
According to the president of the NGO HSF, "beyond the tribute paid to the missing, this decision would have a strong symbolic, human and civic significance", because it "would make it possible to collectively measure the seriousness of this tragedy and to raise awareness about the scale of a migratory crisis which continues to cost human lives".
Is economic despair the primary cause of departures?
Photo credit, AFP via Getty Images
Maguèye Mbaye is today a fishmonger in Kayar, where he lives with his family. Aged 46, married and father of a family, he can no longer attempt the sea adventure due to his family responsibilities. He is the eldest in his family.
However, he understands the reasons that push young people to leave, since he himself attempted the crossing in 2006 and managed to reach Spain at the age of 26. However, he is one of those whose return to Senegal had been negotiated by the Senegalese authorities in exchange for funding which, according to him, never reached them.
He believes that the weakness and irregularity of income from artisanal fishing make any prospect of financial autonomy difficult.
“It happens that a canoe ends a fishing campaign by paying only 200,000 FCFA to its sailors after nine months of work. Others don't even earn anything. We come back in these conditions to wait for the start of the next campaign,” he explains.
According to him, young fishermen do not only work for themselves. They also bear a heavy responsibility for the economic survival of their families.
“In some families, daily expenses vary between 5,000 and 7,000 FCFA. To ensure the subsistence of the household, the only guarantee that the head of the family sometimes has to obtain credit from the shopkeeper is to say that his son is on a fishing trip,” he says.
“The way young people are leaving the country is alarming, but what can we do about the precarious economic conditions we are experiencing? Today, it is difficult, if not impossible, to dissuade them from leaving. In most cases, the parents are not even aware of their project,” he continues.
Somewhere on the beach or in the shade of the trees, hundreds of people organize themselves and wait for the right moment to board a canoe and try to reach Europe by the Atlantic Ocean.
“We sometimes sit here and see men, women and even children arriving in droves trying to leave. The phenomenon exists everywhere, in all the coastal localities of the country,” he concludes.
Europe, a dream stronger than the fear of dying
For many, it is the hope of a better future in Europe that motivates the decision to leave. The financial success of certain migrants living abroad fuels the ambitions of those who remained in Senegal.
Migration thus becomes, for some, a means of achieving social success, marriage and recognition within the family.
“When they see that their friends living in Europe, who were no more courageous than them, are capable of paying dowries of one million to one and a half million CFA francs, young people end up thinking that Europe is the solution to their problems. This is why they are ready to do anything to leave,” says Magueye Mbaye.
“Leaving is an option, but dying at sea must never be one,” declared the Minister of the Interior during his trip to Tébène 2, in the north of the country. According to the APS, he also insisted on continuing awareness campaigns and strengthening the fight against migrant transport networks, which he described as criminal.
As a possible solution, he mentioned the need to develop regular migration mechanisms, particularly through circular immigration, in order to allow young Senegalese and Africans wishing to work abroad to carry out their project in a legal and secure framework.
For his part, the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, announced the continuation of the fight against this phenomenon, while placing emphasis on the creation of jobs likely to offer young people prospects in their country.
“We will tirelessly continue the fight against those who organize these crossings and the work which gives our youth reason to hope here,” declared the Head of State after hearing the news of the tragedy.
He bowed to the memory of the victims and presented his condolences to the bereaved families as well as the people of Kébémer.
“My thoughts also go to the survivors and those who are waiting for news of a loved one,” added President Diomaye Faye.
Why are prevention policies not enough?
Photo credit, Getty Images
With all the awareness campaigns carried out at community level on the dangers of irregular emigration, supported by numerous relays within youth and women's associations, the scale of the phenomenon could have diminished. However, this is not the case. The evil is deeper than it seems.
“Sometimes, young people who are in Europe explain to their friends who have stayed here that they earn more in two months than they earned during a nine-month fishing campaign when they were in Senegal. This is one of the main factors that push young people to leave,” says Magueye Mbaye.
“When you see young people who were here in 2023 coming back from Spain, distributing 5,000 or 10,000 FCFA notes to their relatives and friends, getting married and building their houses, you easily understand why others want to leave in their turn to succeed in the same way,” he confides.
Although we can intercept canoes, strengthen maritime surveillance or set up professional integration and financing programs for young people, many continue to think that their success can only be achieved in Europe.
“This flow is greater than that of 2006 and even than that observed over the last three years, because the main reason for the departure of young people remains the lack of hope,” estimates fishing trade unionist Amsatou Ndiaye.
Stating that he does not do politics, he considers that the hope aroused by the coming to power of the Diomaye-Sonko tandem has faded.
According to him, more contracts have been awarded to European boats, while agricultural subsidies have been reduced to the detriment of farmers.
“Young people can't stay here when they feel like they're stagnating, while those who left two or three years ago are progressing on the other side,” he says.
“That’s the observation they made. They concluded that they had to act. This is the real reason why they are leaving,” he explains.
What should be done to fix young people?
For Boubacar Sèye, the president of Horizons sans Frontières, “a day of national mourning should not be a simple moment of contemplation”, but “it must be an act of responsibility, a strong signal and a starting point for a true national mobilization around the migration issue”.
The researcher believes that “beyond emotion and indignation, it is now urgent to move on to structural responses”.
“We are therefore calling for the convening of national meetings on international migration, bringing together the State, local authorities, civil society organizations, experts, researchers, migrant families and international partners,” he suggests.
In his opinion, "this meeting should lead in particular to the establishment of an independent National Commission on Migration, responsible for identifying intervention priorities both upstream and downstream of migratory journeys."
The mission of this commission would consist, he said, of "analyzing the root causes of departures, proposing appropriate responses, strengthening community awareness and deconstructing certain socio-cultural dynamics which favor the propensity for irregular emigration, in particular the social pressure linked to material success and the idealization of departure for Europe".
This commission “should also work on the protection of migrants, support for families and the reintegration of returnees”.
“Senegal cannot continue to count its deaths at sea without deeply questioning the reasons that push thousands of young people to risk their lives to reach Europe. Behind each departure, there is often disappointed hope, social despair, a lack of prospects and a quest for dignity,” explains Boubacar Sèye.
“It is therefore time to go beyond essentially security responses and tackle the root causes of this human hemorrhage: unemployment, precariousness, lack of opportunities, inequalities and the absence of prospects for part of our youth,” he continues.
“It is no longer just a question of preventing departures, but of understanding why they are becoming, for so many young people, a necessity perceived as unavoidable.”
“Through this appeal, HSF wishes to provoke a real national surge: that public authorities, local authorities, families, civil society and all the active forces of the Nation mobilize so that the sea is no longer the cemetery of the dreams and hopes of our youth,” he concludes.
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