# taz.de -- Migration Policy in Sierra Leone: War, desease and no perspective
       
       > Sierra Leone is located far from the typical routes for migration and
       > flight. Nevertheless, the country has a very large and well-educated
       > diaspora.
       
   IMG Bild: 2014: A burial team prepares an Ebola virus victim for interment
       
       The small country of Sierra Leone with its population of about 6 million
       made headlines in 2014 with the outbreak of the fatal Ebola virus, from
       which at least 3,956 people died. During those months, a long-term,
       noticeable trend with which the country has been struggling for decades
       became especially clear: massive brain drain. As one doctor estimated in
       November 2015 in a personal conversation, there are supposedly fewer
       physicians with Sierra Leone passports in Sierra Leone itself than in the
       USA. Their estimated number was lower than 200.
       
       This development started during the civil war from 1991 to 2002, in which
       more than two million people left the country, among them numerous
       academics. In the year 2000, 52.5 percent of citizens with a university
       education
       
       were apparently living abroad. Due to the poor infrastructure and the lack
       of economic growth with its corresponding low wages, bringing these
       emigrants back was not successful. In any case, most Sierra Leoneans who
       fled to neighbouring countries have meanwhile returned .
       
       Yet those emigrants living in Great Britain, for instance, or in the USA,
       are central to the country's economy. Their remittances for the year 2009
       made up between twelve and 25 percent of the gross domestic product,
       according to various estimates.
       
       Because of the Ebola outbreak and its consequences, northward migration may
       have become more complicated, yet simultaneously more attractive: since
       mid-2014, many airlines have cancelled their service to the capital of
       Freetown. Furthermore, due to the total economic collapse, family members
       could no longer pool their money to pay for the journey to Europe, as they
       would have usually done. At the same time, this trend may also have made
       emigration more attractive than ever before, as the GDP fell by 21.1
       percent in 2015 and will recover only very slowly.
       
       ## New Projects
       
       One year before the civil war ended, the number of asylum applications for
       2001 was just short of 14,000. In 2105, 1,262 Sierra Leoneans submitted
       applications; the approval rate was 18.5 percent. 293 asylum seekers came
       to Germany; Italy and Hungary ranked just below that. So far, return
       agreements do not exist, neither with individual states nor with the
       European Union. The country is also not among those scheduled to receive
       funding from the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. In any case, Sierra
       Leoneans can take part in the REAG reintegration programme. They belong to
       the second group and receive €300 upon repatriation. Around €266 million
       were designated for the country up until 2013 in the 10th Development Aid
       Fund of the EU. In the eleventh, investments are planned in three main
       areas – good governmental leadership, support for state facilities and the
       creation of essential infrastructure.
       
       Some laws and strategies on flight and migration are being discussed only
       since the Valletta Summit in November 2015 and therefore, likely at the
       urging of the EU. For instance, a workshop on work migration took place in
       April 2016 in the context of the ECOWAS project, “Support to Free Movement
       of Persons and Migration in West Africa“ (FMM West Africa).
       
       Since 2014, migration and border security have been linked with the Ebola
       outbreak more often than with continuing journeys toward North Africa and
       Europe. One example of this is a project by the International Organisation
       for Migration (IOM) entitled “Health and Management of Borders and
       Mobility“. Its goal is to curb the risk of infection that comes with the
       free mobility to travel. Uncontrolled and uncontrollable borders were
       viewed as one reason why the epidemic spread so massively throughout three
       countries. At the same time, border crossings used to be the norm, i.e.,
       going to work or to shop in a neighbouring country was once a constant and
       common part of life.
       
       12 Dec 2016
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
   DIR Katrin Gänsler
       
       ## TAGS
       
   DIR migControl
   DIR Sierra Leone
       
       ## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
       
   DIR Hochwasser in Sierra Leone: Hunderte Tote nach Erdrutsch
       
       In Sierra Leone starben mehr als 310 Menschen durch Überschwemmungen. In
       Freetown ruschte eine Berghang ab. Helfer befürchten weitere Opfer.