Ivory Coast Put to the Test of Migration: A Migration Policy Under Construction?

Economic and political history reminds us that Ivory Coast is a country of migration. Its geopolitical position in the sub-regional space gives it a triple status of receiving, departure and transit territory for migrants to countries in the ECOWAS region and other countries of the North. Indeed, as a host territory, the abundant availability of land resources in the past and the orientation of an economic policy towards agricultural development constituted an attractive source of migrants from neighboring countries. The role played by these actors has strongly impacted the economy of this country to this day. Then, its status as a territory of departure is justified by the significant statistical weight of migrants (irregular or illegal) of Ivorian origin or coming from Ivory Coast hosted in Western countries. The influx of Ivorian migrants to countries in the sub-region and to Western countries paradoxically contradicts the positive economic growth estimated at 7% on average over the past five years. Finally, the porosity of the Ivorian borders has allowed real migration networks to emerge, also serving as a gateway for various categories of migrants from here and elsewhere to other destinations. Therefore, the intensification of migratory flows during this decade and the development of informal migration networks has gradually made Ivory Coast the migration hub of the West African sub-regional space. Yet, until recently, Ivory Coast had virtually no migration policy. However, it was until the middle of the present decade that the country adopted a migration policy strategy that aims to identify and focus all migration issues taking as a frame of reference the regional migration policy of the ECOWAS area. Due to the geostrategic weight of the Ivory Coast in the West African sub-region, it becomes legitimate to take a critical look at the current Ivory Coast policy on migration. The aim was to highlight the specific characteristics and variations as well as the pitfalls inherent in the political vision of the Ivorian authorities in terms of migration in the West African migration policy context.