West and Central Africa is a major source region of unauthorized migration. Trucks overloaded with migrants, rushing north along the sandy roads of the Sahara, have become iconic images of international migrant smuggling. This particular flow is important, but only one aspect of a complex and poorly documented landscape of migrant smuggling from West and Central Africa. This chapter reviews what we know and what remains unknown, drawing upon a review of academic publications, investigative journalism, and grey literature.
Carling, Jørgen (2016) West and Central Africa, in Migrant Smuggling Data and Research: A Global Review of the Emerging Evidence Base. Geneva: International Organization for Migration (25–53).
