By: Nyima Sillah
Hon Mamadou Tangara, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad has disclosed that the government of the Gambia is currently working on signing two Bilateral Labour Agreements with the Kingdom of Spain and Italy.
Mr. Tangara made this statement, on Monday, 24th July 2023 during a press briefing on matters dealing with migration-related issues, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Banjul.
Speaking to the press corps, Hon Tangara said “In a bid to create opportunities or regular pathways for Gambians to travel to Europe, the government is currently working on signing two Bilateral Labour Agreements with the Kingdom of Spain and Italy.”
This he said would allow Gambians to travel regularly to Europe seasonally for employment.
However, emphasizing the signing of the Good Practices Document between the Gambia and the EU, Minister Tangarapointed out that the Agreement on readmission arrangement between The Gambia and the EU called the Good Practices Document is a standard operating procedure for managing returns of those who have exhausted their rights to stay in any EU member state or a readmission arrangement on the modalities for return.
“It was agreed by both parties in 2018 and implemented in 2019. The purpose is, when any EU member state expels any of our citizens, The Gambia being the country of origin will have the opportunity to ensure they exhaust all their legal remedies.”
He added that the Good Practice Document also entails ensuring at any given time, The Gambia will accept the number of returnees it can receive. Giving an example that without this Standard Operating Procedure, Germany may decide at one time to remove two hundred (200) Gambians from the two thousand (2000) Gambians whose asylum applications have been rejected.
“But through this arrangement, The Gambia can influence the number of returnees per flight or frequency of flights to The Gambia which we have been successful to manage, otherwise the number of deportees per month would have been overwhelming considering the number of asylum applications rejected,” he stressed.
He further stated that the Good Practice Document also ensures that vulnerable Gambians receive adequate attention, assistance, and care throughout the whole process.
“Unaccompanied minors will not be returned without successful tracing of family members or without adequate reception and caretaking arrangements having been put in place for them. It looks at issues of document verification and identification of presumed Gambians so that those who claimed they are Gambians but are not would not be repatriated to The Gambia,” he explained.
He continued: “The arrangement also looks at the reintegration of returnees, both voluntary and involuntary. The Government in this case is looking at ways of working on a sustainable reintegration regime including economic and psychosocial support to returnees,” Tangara said.