Algeria must stop arbitrary expulsion of West African migrants in desert: UN migration rights expert.

Atrocities suffered by child and adult migrants from West African States 'should shock the conscience of humanity' into action, a UN rights investigator said on Thursday, before calling for Algeria to halt the collective expulsion of thousands of foreign nationals to Niger.

The appeal for help from the international community from UN Special Rapporteur on migration Felipe Gonzalez Morales, follows his official visit to Niger; a hub for those looking to leave in search of new opportunities, for decades.

In a statement, he cited testimonies of migrants exposed to 'unimaginable atrocities': trafficking, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, rape, as well as worker-exploitation and enslavement. They had taken migrant routes through Sudan, Chad, Libya and Mali to Niger.

While commending Niger for its 'generosity and solidarity' in hosting refugees, Mr. Gonzalez Morales noted how in recent years restrictive migration laws and policies had made it a 'virtual southern border of Europe'.

He highlighted how the 2015 law on illicit smuggling of migrants had resulted in a 'de facto ban of migration towards the north', prompting people to look for other, even riskier alternatives. l

'Despite its purported aim to prevent and combat the illicit smuggling of migrants, the implementation of the law has led to the criminalization of migration and violations of the human rights of migrants,' the Special Rapporteur said. 'Multiple sources have indicated that instead migrants have shifted to more dangerous, longer and more expensive routes.'

The independent rights expert, who was appointed in June 2017 by the UN Human Rights Council, insisted that migration policies 'cannot solely rely on security considerations' and must have human rights 'as a central component'.

Any help from the international community - and the European Union - should help Niger 'in re-focusing' its migration management strategy, he said.

This would involve strengthening national institutions, so they could cope with large movements of migrants, enhancing monitoring of their human rights, and supporting development projects in local communities.

The Special Rapporteur also called on Algeria to halt...