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Europe External Programme with Africa

EEPA

Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection, and resilience in the Horn of Africa.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Eurojust Regulation Revision

25 Nov 2025

* The full version of this feedback can be found in the PDF document in attachment, including recommendations. * The European External Programme with Africa (EEPA) has for two decades (since 2006) focused on documenting migration-related crimes along multiple NorthEast African and Central Mediterranean routes. Primary attention has been on smuggling and human trafficking through the Horn via Libya and Italy, and the route linking Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt (Sinai) and Israel. More recently EEPA has extended research to corridors from Eritrea and Addis Ababa into Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, and has tracked movements involving Chad, Tunisia, Rwanda and other states. Research and partnerships EEPAs investigations have been conducted in collaboration with academic institutions, humanitarian organisations and human-rights defenders. Findings have been published in situation reports, media pieces, academic articles and books, strengthening the evidence base on modus operandi, criminal actors and the patterns of abuse. EEPA has worked with law enforcement, governments, NGOs, legal professionals and prosecutors to map criminal inventories and identify networks. Joint investigative work has contributed to prosecutions of multiple individuals, including high-profile leaders of the Central Mediterranean networkTewelde G. (Walid/Welid) and Kidane Z. H. (Kidane)who have been convicted in proceedings touching on smuggling, moneylaundering and related offences. Allegations persist that these networks perpetrated killings, rape, torture, ransom-taking and other grave human-rights violations in Libya and elsewhere. Complexity of investigations Cases such as the Pearce investigation illustrate the transnational and multi-jurisdictional complexity: actions occur simultaneously across countries, with smuggling and trafficking networks operating through abductions, detention in isolated sites, retrafficking to militias or other perpetrators, and exploitation under protection or complicity of local authorities. Families are often extorted for large sums while victims are tortured to force payments. Investigations have revealed deficiencies in European cross-border police and judicial cooperationdivergent legal frameworks and poor coordination have fostered impunity and hampered effective responses. Transnational repression and state-linked enabling EEPAs work highlights how organised-crime networks are supported by transnational repression and, in some instances, by state actors. A European Parliament report (13 November 2025) on transnational repression provides relevant recommendations for confronting state-enabled control and intimidation. The Walid case showed that witnesses can be targeted from prison and intimidated across borders, deterring testimony. Evidence indicates that criminal networks in Europe can be linked to or shielded by legitimate state structures, facilitating infiltration and undermining the rule of law. Multistakeholder, anonymous frameworks A central practical lesson is the need for multistakeholder collaboration that guarantees anonymity for witnesses, enabling survivors and observers to report safely and for investigators to corroborate patterns. Secure, ethical datasharing between researchers, NGOs, international organisations and law enforcementbuilt on academic ethical standardshas improved collective analysis and assisted prosecutions, including through cooperation with institutions such as the ICC. Recommendations 1. Establish an Anonymous Investigation and EarlyWarning Mechanism 2. Strengthen International Investigations 3.Address State-Enabled Criminal Infiltration of Legitimate Structures 4. Introduce an EU-Level Auditing and Compliance Mechanism 5. Mandatory Training on Transnational Repression and Criminal Network Tactics
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Response to EU Strategy on victims' rights (2020-2024)

2 Apr 2020

We appreciate and encourage the steps the European Commission had taken with this initiative to protect vulnerable victims of crime. Protecting those most vulnerable and ensuring access to the protection of the law for everybody is a fundamental element of our European values and society. While special attention within the roadmap goes out to the most vulnerable victims (victims of trafficking, gender-based violence, child victims and victims of terrorism) that cannot properly access their rights because they are in a cross-border situation, do not speak the language, do not know the laws or do not know how to access authorities, specific attention to the situation of asylum seekers and refugees is still lacking. Protection for asylum seekers and refugees in the EU requires specific attention, due to the various and unique circumstances of this group, which often brings particular vulnerability to crime. Asylum seekers and refugees are often a marginalized part of their host country. They may live in an insecure situation when it comes to status of residency, employment or housing while being unfamiliar with the laws, authorities, language and customs of their host country. This is especially the case for unaccompanied minors. Those marginalized from government and society are vulnerable to crime and exploitation.[1] Secondly, many asylum seekers and refugees have encountered violence, human trafficking and sexual violence on their route to Europe.[2] For example, 85% of migrants and refugees that reached Italy from Libya had been subject to “torture, violence and inhuman and degrading treatment” in Libya.[3] Due to the high prevalence of trauma many need additional support to report crimes and seek the protection of the law. While the European Commission’s initiative focuses on crime and punishment within the EU, it is important to note that external criminal networks also threaten and affect people within the EU.[4] This can include governments from the countries of origin, human traffickers, smugglers, and other criminal organizations. This, for example, takes place in the refugee camps on the Greek islands [5], but also within asylum seekers’ centrums in for example The Netherlands and Germany [6]. The extraordinary situation that makes asylum seekers and refugees very vulnerable requires extraordinary protection from the European Commission. The difference in status, situation and vulnerability is very diverging between asylum seekers and refugees across different EU hosting countries, and this heterogeneity needs to be accounted for in the initiative to properly protect those most vulnerable. That is why we request particular attention be paid in the Roadmap towards human trafficking of refugees and asylum seekers; to help refugees reach the right channels of reporting such things to the right authorities, both for crimes inside and outside Europe, and to provide adequate information and support for victims of such crimes. Thank you for your time and consideration, Europe External Programme with Africa [1] IOM. 2019. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/migrants_and_their_vulnerability.pdf [2] UNHCR. 2019. “Routes Towards The Mediterranean reducing Risks And Strengthening Protection.” https://www.unhcr.org/5d1327ab7.pdf [3] Doctors for Human Rights. 20-3-2020. “THE TORTURE FACTORY Report on Human Rights Violations Against Migrants and Refugees in Libya (2014-2020).” [4] Mirjam van Reisen, et al. 2019. Mobile Africa: Human Trafficking and the Digital Divide. https://www.eepa.be/?page_id=3481 [5] Cone, Devon. 27-2-2020. “Seeking Asylum in Greece: Women and Unaccompanied Children Struggle to Survive.” https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2020/2/21/seeking-asylum-greece-women-unaccompanied-children-struggle-survive [6] Koigi, Bob. 18-3-2020. “The Nigerian human trafficking mafia in Europe.” https://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-nigerian-human-trafficking-mafia-in-europe/
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