Beyond the Borders – Issues and Perspectives on Irregular Migration and Enforcement of Human Rights in Africa

Africa is a major hub for migration as the continent has played the tripartite roles of origin, transit and destination for irregular migrants over the years. Consequently, Africa has become a major focus for migration debates with inherent socio-economic and political push and pull factors for migration. A major debate is the enforcement of human rights especially among irregular migrants in Africa. This article examines some human rights violations suffered by irregular migrants from Africa using largely secondary data obtained from systematic desk review. The political economy framework was used as a macro perspective in analyzing the ways in which various factors work together to affect migratory flows while the labelling theory was used in explaining the procedures and processes whereby individuals become successfully tagged as irregular migrants and criminals. The article concludes with some policy propositions which when followed, would guarantee the protection of migrants' fundamental human rights in the face of rapid movement of people across the globe.