Three fathers have sued in Senegal for having their youngsters on board canoes on their method to Europe. Considered one of these younger individuals, a minor, died at sea on the finish of October: his identify was Doudou and he dreamed of turning into a soccer participant. The decision is predicted on Tuesday in Mbour, 100 kilometers south of Dakar. The prosecutor requested two years in jail.
From our Dakar correspondent,
Fathers of households on the bridge. They’re tried to “endanger the lives of others” and “participation in migration smuggling”. In latest months, departures have began once more, from the seashores of Mbour, Dakar and Saint-Louis. Dozens of candidates for the journey squeezed on congested canoes attempting to achieve Spain regardless of extreme climate circumstances within the Atlantic at the moment of 12 months. Boats that tackle water. Overheated engines. The fish take again our bodies. Dramatic tales comply with one another within the newspapers.
For the prosecutor, those that let their youngsters go underneath these circumstances had been grossly careless when organizing their journey. The younger Doudou Faye was killed at sea. His father had paid a smuggler 250,000 FCFA (rather less than 400 euros). He didn’t inform {the teenager}’s mom about this venture. A case that aroused feelings and outrage in Senegal and overseas.
Shipwreck
Younger individuals, minors, who depart for Europe with goals of their heads, Moustapha Diouf has identified many. President of AJRAP, the affiliation for younger returnees from Thiaroye sur Mer close to Dakar, himself made the canoe journey in 2006 to the Canary Islands. “For about fifteen years, there have been mother and father who’ve pressured their youngsters to depart,” he explains.
Moustapha Diouf is himself the daddy of a household. When he mentions Doudou’s case, he can’t assist however consider his 14-year-old son. “The storm, the chilly, the dearth of water, it is insufferable,” he recollects earlier than including: “Do you see what is going on on right here? You cannot maintain individuals again … It is a whole lot of fatigue. We’re drained. We hear concerning the progress in Senegal, however we didn’t succeed ”. Throughout his trial, Doudou Faye’s father stated he “regretted” his act. His attorneys say that this father “had hopes for a greater future for his youngster and that he may additionally assist his household”. For the protection, these fathers are “not the culprits however the victims”. Attorneys say “don’t perceive the brand new technique for the prosecution”
A trial to advise?
To date, the Senegalese authorities have labored primarily to dismantle smuggling netsand to often name migrants who wished to return on board or those that organized departures on land. For sociologist Aly Tandian, a professor at Gaston Berger College in Saint-Louis and director of the Senegalese Migration Observatory, the “first” factor to do is goal households of potential immigrants.
Senegal is engaged in a repressive coverage, this trial is meant to warn and make clear Senegal’s place. Now we have heard criticisms condemning the authorities’ nearly absence and their incapacity to resolve the issue, so this trial is a powerful response from the state, he concludes.
The state disclaims all accountability
The difficulty throughout a press convention on the finish of November, the Minister for Youth Affairs prefers to level the finger at “social strain”. For Néné Fatoumata Tall, the calls for are robust on younger individuals “of their neighborhoods, of their houses”. It appeals to the sense of accountability. In accordance with her, households should cease telling their youngsters each day “that such an individual (overseas) managed to construct a constructing for his mother and father, when he isn’t higher educated than you (stayed within the nation). These phrases usually seem in houses and it’s an insufferable strain, the minister stated.
For sociologist Aly Tandian, questioning households is not going to result in the phenomenon being stopped: “Ought to we pursue this logic within the grocery retailer? It isn’t suing mother and father that can elevate consciousness. Moderately, we should always attempt to perceive the foundation causes and supply solutions ”. In accordance with him, “the safety logic has already sufficiently proven its limits”. The fathers of younger migrants subsequently danger two years in jail. However for the director of the Senegalese Migration Observatory, they’ve in any case “already been condemned within the eyes of society”.
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