The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) covers 6,000 kilometers of coastline, extending from Senegal to Angola and including two island nations. The region is endowed with fisheries, mineral and hydrocarbon resources and its geography represents an important route for global sea trade. It is estimated that around 1,500 fishing vessels, tankers, and cargo ships navigate the Gulf on any given day – many of these on their way to or from the European Union (EU). 

A new collaborative research between the University of St Andrews, UK and the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), in association with the University of Bonn, is exploring the intended and unintended consequences of the EU’s policy choices with regard to this region. To this end, it examines the relationship between maritime governance, maritime security initiatives and irregular migration from the GoG to Europe. It specifically focuses on the relations between maritime governance, maritime security, and irregular (maritime) migration within EU efforts to strengthen maritime security and address assumed root causes of irregular migration to Europe.  

This virtual workshop is organised to mark the start of this project and will bring together policy makers and researchers based in Europe and the Gulf of Guinea to exchange views and ideas in relation to the overarching topic of the maritime dimensions of EU-Africa migration. Its main objective is to convene the group of experts to have a first exchange, and gauge the interest in a more detailed exchange at a later stage in the process. Second, and related, the meeting serves to identify and consider interesting trends and potential research directions in this broader field.

Draft agenda
 

 12:00 – 12:30hr Introductory remarks and setting of the scene

• Anna-Katharina Hornidge (IDOS Director)
  
   

12:30 – 13:15hr Maritime dimensions of development cooperation between the EU and West-Africa

• Brief introduction by Niels Keijzer (Senior Researcher, IDOS), a first reaction by Ambassador Namira Negm (Director, African Migration Observatory), followed by an open discussion
  
   

13:15 – 14:00hr EU support to the Yaoundé Architecture, and EU support to maritime security in the GoG

•  Brief introduction by Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood (Lecturer, St Andrews), a first reaction by Timothy Walker (Maritime Project Lead, Institute for Security Studies), followed by an open discussion