Safe Migration Is a Right: What Every Young Person Should Know

The race to “Japa” is real. So are the dreams behind it. But no dream should require a young person to gamble with their life—and no border should become a place where human rights stop.

By Kate Ibeanusi
Safe Journeys · Sheerah Verenda Full Life Initiative

“Your life is not the price you pay for opportunity.”

There is a word that has become part of everyday Nigerian vocabulary:

Japa.

It started as slang. It has become a social phenomenon.

It is in our WhatsApp groups, our family conversations, our universities, our workplaces and increasingly in the calculations young people make about their futures.

“I want to japa.”

“I’m planning to japa next year.”

“My friend has japa-ed.”

Sometimes it is said jokingly.

Sometimes it is said with frustration.

And sometimes it is said with the quiet desperation of someone who has already made up their mind.

There is nothing unusual about wanting to leave.

People have always moved.

People move for education, work, family, safety, opportunity, adventure and sometimes survival.

A young person looking beyond the place where they were born and imagining a different future is not doing something wrong.

The desire to move is not the problem.

The question is:

What happens between the decision to leave and the hope of arriving somewhere better?

That is where the story becomes complicated.

Before We Talk About Japa, Let’s Talk About People

The Djado Plateau in Niger, part of the Sahara landscape through which many migrants travel on routes north.

Photo: Maireymaradi, “Niger Djado,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niger_Djado.jpg

When we talk about migration statistics, it is easy to forget the human beings behind the numbers.

We say:

“Migrants crossed the Mediterranean.”

But somebody was on that boat.

We say:

“People crossed the Sahara.”

But somebody walked through that desert.

We say:

“Migrants arrived in Spain.”

But somebody spent days, weeks or months trying to get there.

And somebody else did not make it.

IOM estimates that 3,845 migrants from West and Central Africa died or went missing on routes towards Europe in 2025, including the Sahara, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands. IOM stresses that these figures are minimum estimates because deaths and disappearances on remote routes are difficult to document. In 2026, IOM’s Europe data already records 2,077 people dead or missing across the main routes to Europe.

But let us not begin with the numbers.

Let us begin with the people.

The Sahara is not an empty space between Africa and Europe.

It is a place where people become lost, abandoned, dehydrated, exploited and sometimes buried without anyone ever knowing exactly where they died.

The sea is not a shortcut.

It is not simply the last leg of the journey.

It is a place where a boat can become a grave.

And the fact that a person has made it that far does not mean they are safe.

The Race to Japa Can Hide the Reality of the Journey

For many young Nigerians, migration has become aspirational.

Someone leaves.

A photograph appears.

A new apartment.

A European street.

A car.

A new job.

A better life.

And suddenly the story becomes:

“See? It worked.”

But social media has a way of showing us the destination while hiding the journey.

It does not show the money paid to smugglers.

It does not show the months in the desert.

It does not show the detention.

It does not show the exploitation.

It does not show the fear.

It does not show the people who never arrived.

It does not show what happens when the dream meets reality.

We see the arrival. We rarely see the cost of getting there.

And that is why Safe Journeys begins with something very simple:

Information.

Before you leave, know what you are leaving.

Know where you are going.

Know how you are getting there.

Know who is taking you.

Know what you are paying for.

Know what documents you need.

Know what your rights are.

And know what can happen if the plan goes wrong.

“Information can save lives.”

The Mediterranean Is Not a Shortcut

A migrant boat being assisted during a Mediterranean rescue operation in July 2016.

Photo: U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Weston Jones; U.S. federal government work, public domain.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:160729-N-ZE250-283_(28645628075).jpg

The danger is not theoretical.

In 2025, 17,788 people reached Spain’s Canary Islands by sea, after departing from the coasts of West and North Africa. IOM recorded 54 shipwrecks on that route, resulting in 1,214 deaths or disappearances.

And in 2026, the deaths and disappearances continue.

The Mediterranean and Atlantic routes have become part of the vocabulary of migration.

But every boat carries people who have names.

People with mothers.

People with children.

People with unfinished degrees.

People with businesses they wanted to build.

People with dreams.

People who believed that there was something better waiting on the other side.

And sometimes there is.

But sometimes the journey ends in the sea.

Then There Is the Border

Spanish authorities monitor the Tarajal border at Ceuta after the July 2026 border crisis.

Photo: Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa; Ministry of the Presidency, Government of Spain. Reproduction permitted with attribution.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pedro_S%C3%A1nchez,_con_representantes_de_las_Fuerzas_y_Cuerpos_de_Seguridad_del_Estado_en_la_frontera_del_Tarajal.jpg

In July 2026, the migration conversation in Spain took another dramatic turn.

An estimated tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the North African coast. Spanish authorities later revised their estimate to approximately 72,000 crossings during the July 30–31 episode. At least dozens of people died, including people who drowned and others who were crushed or injured during the crossing.

The scale was extraordinary.

The reception system was overwhelmed.

Children were among those arriving.

Ceuta’s facilities for unaccompanied minors became severely overcrowded; Spain subsequently began planning transfers of children to the mainland.

We should acknowledge the complexity of this.

Countries have borders.

Governments have a legitimate responsibility to manage those borders.

Communities have legitimate concerns about sudden large-scale arrivals.

Reception systems have limits.

Children need specialised protection.

None of that should be dismissed.

But there is another question that must be asked:

When a border is overwhelmed, what happens to the humanity of the people crossing it?

“A border is a legal boundary. It should never become a boundary beyond which humanity ends.”

Because a person does not become less human because there are too many of them arriving at once.

A Border Is Not a Human-Rights-Free Zone

This is not merely a moral argument.

There is an international legal framework behind it.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights states clearly that international borders are not zones where human-rights obligations disappear. States have the right to exercise jurisdiction at their borders, but border control and law enforcement must still be carried out consistently with human-rights obligations.

The UN principles call on states to protect the rights of people at borders, including:

the right to life;

dignity and non-discrimination;

due process;

individual assessment;

access to effective remedies;

the best interests of children;

and protection from measures that undermine human rights in the name of controlling irregular migration.

So we can hold two truths at once:

Borders matter.

And:

People matter.

We do not have to choose between them.

“A border is a legal boundary. It should never become a boundary beyond which humanity ends.”

What Happens When People Reach the Sea?

The sea creates another legal and moral obligation.

When people are in distress, they must be rescued.

The revised 2026 Rescue at Sea guide from UNHCR, the International Maritime Organization and the International Chamber of Shipping reinforces the humanitarian and legal duties to rescue refugees and migrants in distress at sea and bring them to safety. It emphasises that rescue should lead to safe disembarkation consistent with international law.

This matters because rescue is not simply about pulling someone out of the water.

Where people may be seeking international protection, disembarkation must also take account of protection needs and the principle of non-refoulement.

The 1951 Refugee Convention establishes non-refoulement as a cornerstone of refugee protection: refugees should not be returned to places where their lives or freedom face serious threats. UNHCR also recognises the principle as customary international law.

So:

Save the person.

Bring them to safety.

Listen to their circumstances.

Assess protection needs.

Do not simply push the problem somewhere else.

That is what a rights-based migration system looks like.

And Then They Arrive

Inside a cucumber greenhouse in Almería, Spain, illustrating the agricultural economy in which migrant workers are part of the labour force.

Photo: MdeVicente, “Invernadero pepinos,” Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Invernadero_pepinos.jpg

This is the part of the migration story we do not talk about enough.

Because we often imagine Europe as the end of the journey.

You cross the Sahara.

You survive Libya.

You cross the Mediterranean.

You reach Spain.

And then you have arrived.

But arrived where?

And into what kind of life?

This is where the recent CNN investigation in southern Spain becomes difficult to ignore.

“Life is not rosy here.”

“Life Is Not Rosy Here”

In August 2026, CNN travelled to Almería, southern Spain, one of Europe’s major agricultural regions.

From above, the landscape is astonishing: vast stretches of greenhouses producing millions of tonnes of fruit and vegetables for European consumers.

But beneath that agricultural success is another story.

A story of migrants living and working on the margins.

CNN met Amoateng Foster, a 44-year-old former mathematics teacher from Ghana. Foster had travelled through the Sahel and Libya before crossing the Mediterranean and eventually reaching Spain. He now lives in an informal settlement and works in the greenhouse industry.

His story should make us pause.

Because Foster had not simply “come to Europe.”

He had survived the journey to get there.

And then he found himself working in conditions that CNN described as harsh, with undocumented workers reporting very low pay and poor living conditions. Some told CNN they were earning around €5 an hour, while others reported even less.

Foster’s words are particularly striking:

“Life is not rosy here.”

Think about that.

A person risks everything to reach Europe.

Then discovers that Europe is not the end of hardship.

The People Who Help Feed Europe Should Not Become Invisible

The Almería story presents a difficult contradiction.

Migrant workers are part of the labour force sustaining an important agricultural economy.

Yet some undocumented migrants live in informal settlements, wait at street corners for work and become vulnerable to exploitation precisely because their immigration status makes them afraid or unable to challenge abusive conditions. CNN documented this vulnerability in its reporting.

This is not an argument that migrants should automatically be entitled to remain permanently in a country.

It is an argument about human dignity and labour rights.

The International Labour Organization’s 2026 guidance on migrant workers emphasises that migrant workers contribute significantly to labour markets and economies and should be protected through fair recruitment, equality of treatment, decent working conditions, social protection and access to justice.

A migrant worker does not become disposable labour because their paperwork is complicated.

And a person does not lose their humanity because they crossed a border without authorisation.

“A safe journey cannot end at the border. Safety must continue into the workplace, the shelter, the reception centre and the community.”

This Is Where We Need to Rethink the Meaning of Safe Migration

Safe migration is sometimes reduced to:

“Don’t cross illegally.”

But that is too narrow.

Safe migration should ask:

How do we make human mobility safer?

How do we provide credible legal pathways?

How do we give young people accurate information before they leave?

How do we regulate recruitment agencies?

How do we stop traffickers from selling false dreams?

How do we protect people in transit?

How do we rescue people at sea?

How do we ensure that asylum claims are heard fairly?

How do we prevent unlawful pushbacks?

How do we protect migrant workers from exploitation?

How do we ensure that children are treated as children first?

And how do we make sure that a person arriving at a border is still treated as a human being?

We Cannot Build Walls and Call That a Migration Policy

There is a temptation to respond to migration primarily with walls, fences, patrols, detention and increasingly aggressive deterrence.

Security matters.

Border management matters.

But security without humanity can become cruelty.

And walls do not necessarily remove the reasons people move.

They can simply make the journey longer.

More expensive.

More clandestine.

And more dangerous.

The international evidence repeatedly points to the importance of safe and regular pathways because when legitimate options are unavailable or inaccessible, people can be pushed towards smugglers and dangerous routes.

We therefore need to ask a different question.

Not simply:

How do we stop them?

But:

How do we make the journey safer?

Safe Journeys: What We Are Really Saying

This is the philosophy behind Safe Journeys, a migration-focused initiative of the Sheerah Verenda Full Life Initiative.

We are not here to tell young people:

“Don’t Japa.”

We are here to say:

“If you are thinking about moving, understand what you are choosing.”

Know your options.

Know the legitimate pathways.

Know the risks.

Know how trafficking works.

Know how smugglers operate.

Know what documents you need.

Know what a genuine job or study opportunity looks like.

Know where you can seek help.

Know what your rights are.

And know what happens after you arrive.

Because information can save lives.

But Safe Journeys Is Also a Message to Destination Countries

This conversation cannot be directed only at young Africans.

There is a responsibility on the other side of the border too.

Countries have a right to regulate migration.

But migration management must remain compatible with human rights.

The UN has specifically called on states to ensure that border measures do not undermine migrants’ rights and dignity, and that due process and individual assessment are respected.

The UN Human Rights Committee has also raised specific concerns about summary returns and pushbacks at Spain’s Ceuta and Melilla borders, calling for return procedures that respect due process and non-refoulement, as well as accountability for excessive use of force.

So yes:

Protect your borders.

But do not shoot people simply because they are trying to cross.

Enforce immigration law.

But do not use immigration status as permission to exploit.

Manage arrivals.

But do not turn people into statistics.

Process asylum claims.

But do not return people to danger without proper assessment.

Rescue people at sea.

And bring them to a genuine place of safety.

These are not radical demands.

They are part of the human-rights framework that states have committed themselves to uphold.

And to the Young Person Thinking About Japa…

We are not here to tell you that your dream is wrong.

Maybe you want to leave Nigeria.

Maybe you want to study abroad.

Maybe you want to work abroad.

Maybe you want to build a career somewhere that offers opportunities you cannot currently find at home.

Maybe you want to see the world.

That is your choice to consider.

But do not let the race to Japa turn your life into a competition.

You do not have to leave because everyone else is leaving.

You do not have to take the most dangerous route because somebody says it is the fastest.

You do not have to entrust your future to somebody who refuses to give you verifiable information.

And you do not have to prove your courage by surviving something that could kill you.

“There is nothing courageous about dying unnecessarily.”

There is courage in asking questions.

There is courage in waiting for a legitimate opportunity.

There is courage in changing your route.

There is courage in saying:

“There is nothing courageous about dying unnecessarily.”

“This journey is not safe enough for me.”

And yes—

There is courage in coming home.

Coming home is not necessarily failure.

Sometimes changing the plan is wisdom.

Migration Should Be a Choice, Not a Trap

This is ultimately the conversation we need to have.

We cannot tell young people simply:

“Don’t migrate.”

And then leave them without credible opportunities at home or realistic pathways abroad.

We cannot celebrate the money migrants send home while ignoring the conditions under which some of that money is earned.

We cannot condemn irregular migration without asking why dangerous routes remain attractive.

We cannot fight trafficking only after people have been trafficked.

And we cannot expect young people to make informed decisions if the information available to them is incomplete, misleading or deliberately deceptive.

Safe migration requires:

Information.

Opportunity.

Protection.

Accountability.

Legal pathways.

Human dignity.

Your Dream Deserves a Safe Route

Maybe you will still decide to Japa.

Maybe you will study abroad.

Maybe you will get a work visa.

Maybe you will join family somewhere else.

Maybe you will discover an opportunity you never knew existed.

Maybe you will decide to build your future here.

Whatever you choose:

Make it an informed choice.

Don’t let Instagram make the decision for you.

Don’t let desperation make the decision for you.

Don’t let peer pressure make the decision for you.

Don’t let a trafficker make the decision for you.

And don’t let the world convince you that your only choices are:

stay and suffer

or

leave and risk everything.

There are other possibilities.

We must keep building them.

Because safe migration is not about stopping people from moving.

“Your life should arrive with you.”

It is about ensuring that when people move, they can do so with information, preparation, protection and dignity.

And when they arrive at another border, they should not have to surrender their humanity to be treated as human.

“You have a right to dream. You have a right to seek opportunity. And wherever your journey takes you, your life should arrive with you.”

---

About Safe Journeys

Safe Journeys is an initiative of the Sheerah Verenda Full Life Initiative focused on promoting informed, safe and dignified migration.

We believe young people deserve truthful information—not fearmongering.

They deserve choices—not traps.

They deserve opportunities—not desperation.

They deserve to understand their rights before, during and after migration.

And people on the move deserve to be treated as human beings with rights, regardless of the route they took to get there.

Because the goal should never simply be:

to get there.

The goal is to make the journey safely—and arrive with your future still yours.