{"id":92309,"date":"2025-12-18T14:21:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:36:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:36:51","slug":"ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims","title":{"rendered":"Ceesay Defends Declining Irregular Migration Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The Gambia\u2019s Information Minister, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, defended his recent assertion that irregular migration\u2014commonly referred to as the \u201cbackway\u201d\u2014has decreased in recent years, arguing that heightened media attention rather than a surge in departures has fueled public perception of worsening trends.<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking during his weekly government briefing on West Coast Radio, Dr. Ceesay said critics reacted emotionally and accused him of misleading the public. He responded by outlining data he described as authoritative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am now giving statistics based on authoritative research. Now irregular, migration under Jammeh, pre-2017. Irregular migration from the Gambia, where the central Mediterranean grew sharply in the 2010s, with a major peak in 2016. 11,929 plus Gambians arrived by sea in Italy in 2016 alone,\u201d Minister Ceesay said.<\/p>\n

The minister referenced research conducted by a consortium, including the European Union and VUB University in Brussels, in which he participated. Some estimates, he noted, suggest approximately 40,000 Gambians entered Europe irregularly between 2014 and 2019, with most departures occurring before the fall of the Jammeh administration in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is British migration, EU. I was part of that consortium that did research together with the VUB University in Brussels. Other estimates indicate roughly 40,000 Gambians entered Europe irregularly between 2014 and 2019, with many of those departures occurring before Jammeh\u2019s exit in 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ceesay further cited assessments by the European External Action Service indicating that political repression, rising economic hardship, and a lack of opportunities under former President Yahya Jammeh drove migration pressures. One estimate places irregular departures at 38,500 between 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\n

According to the minister, irregular migration declined following President Adama Barrow\u2019s inauguration in 2017, partly due to strengthened EU\u2013Libya cooperation aimed at curbing sea crossings. He also referenced a study by Dr. Ebrima of the University of Birmingham, which found that The Gambia ranked among the top ten countries of origin for irregular migrants to Europe until 2019, with roughly 40,000 arrivals recorded in 2014.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ceesay noted that renewed migration attempts along the Atlantic route toward the Canary Islands during the past two years have not reversed the decline. Between January 2020 and February 2021, only 199 Gambians reached Italy by sea via irregular means, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the figures are there,\u201d he argued. \u201cSo, I wasn\u2019t speaking out of emotion, but those who came after me were not using data. The data is very clear. Irregular migration has declined since President Barrow came to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister Ceesay noted that the Gambia Immigration Department intercepted roughly 2,000 would-be migrants over the past year.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that the desire to attempt the irregular journey persists, but stressed that his argument was not that the phenomenon had disappeared\u2014only that it has not grown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not what the data is telling us. It has declined from the pre-2017 period. 2016 was the highest; almost 40,000 Gambians left that year alone to take the back way. Yes, it still exists. Yes, it is still a problem, but the numbers have declined,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

The minister described criticism of his remarks as unfair and maintained that it is media coverage of irregular migration\u2014not the flow of departures\u2014that has intensified.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. The Gambia\u2019s Information Minister, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, defended his recent assertion that irregular migration\u2014commonly referred to as the \u201cbackway\u201d\u2014has decreased in recent years, arguing that heightened media attention rather than a surge in departures has fueled public perception of worsening trends. Speaking during his weekly government briefing on West Coast Radio, Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-92309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nCeesay Defends Declining Irregular Migration Claims - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gambia\u2019s Information Minister, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, defended his recent assertion that irregular migration\u2014commonl ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ceesay Defends Declining Irregular Migration Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gambia\u2019s Information Minister, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, defended his recent assertion that irregular migration\u2014commonl ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T14:21:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T16:36:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766062453.403155.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ceesay Defends Declining Irregular Migration Claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T14:21:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T16:36:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766062453.403155.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-defends-declining-irregular-migration-claims\",\"name\":\"Ceesay Defends Declining Irregular Migration Claims - 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