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***Dual Appeal***
We call on both the Government of Niger and UNHCR leadership to restore food, water, healthcare, and safety for Agadez refugees. Please add your name to both petitions:

• UNHCR petition → https://www.change.org/withagadez 

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To: The Honourable Minister of Interior, Governor of Agadez Region, and Prosecutor of Agadez

Code Red in the Sahara, Agadez -Food Aid Halted, Days Without Water: Restore Life, Dignity, and Hope in Agadez, Niger

We write to you today as concerned global citizens and advocates for human dignity, with profound urgency regarding the escalating crisis at the Agadez Humanitarian Centre.

 

 

In the past 72 hours, water pumps have been shut off for consecutive days, food assistance remains suspended for 1,730 residents, and eight respected community leaders were summoned by police under threats of renewed arbitrary detention. This dangerous escalation transforms peaceful protest into a perilous act that demands your immediate intervention.

 

 

This comes after 300 consecutive days of nonviolent sit-ins by refugees at the Agadez Humanitarian Centre. These people and families who fled violence in Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic, seeking safety in Niger's traditionally hospitable embrace, only to find themselves isolated in the desert, denied food, denied medicine, and now denied even water.

A Humanitarian Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight​

Nearly 2,000 people, 40% of them children, are detained in conditions that observers have likened to “an open-air prison.” The camp's clinic is closed more often than not. Families report being turned away with only painkillers. In May, a mother died shortly after childbirth. In the last two months alone, seven preventable deaths have occurred.

 

 

Refugees like Amina (not her real name), a mother of three, speak of walking hours to find clean water in 50-degree heat. Children in the camp school, both refugee and host community alike, struggle in overcrowded classrooms without materials or steady electricity.

When community leaders spoke out peacefully, their committee was dissolved, and eight were jailed. Their release in April came only after significant pressure.

Today, any refugee posting testimony under #KeepEyesOnAgadez risks detention simply for continuing to demand what any citizen would: food, medicine, and a future. This systematic intimidation violates Niger's constitutional guarantee of human dignity and the 1951 Refugee Convention's protection mandate.

Breaking Free from Neocolonial Control - This Is Not the Niger We Know

 

 

Niger has long stood as a symbol of hospitality, tradition, rich culture and refuge in West Africa. But what is happening in Agadez now is a departure from that proud tradition. The EU's migration externalisation policies that fund the Agadez centre represent a modern form of neocolonialism using African soil as a containment zone for European border security. This system exploits Niger's generosity while undermining your sovereignty, turning humanitarian protection into political leverage. 

As fellow Africans, we reject this injustice and call upon Niger's leadership to reclaim compassionate governance free from neocolonial influence and manipulation. 

Just as Ghana recently granted prima facie refugee status to thousands of displaced Burkinabes in February 2025, demonstrating African solidarity and progressive leadership.

 

 

We also call on UNHCR leadership, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, Deputy High Commissioner Kelly T. Clements, and UNHCR Niger Representative Emmanuel Gignac, to honour their protection mandate without delay. 

We recognise the significant pressures faced by Niger’s government and UNHCR in addressing complex regional migration flows. Yet the true measure of leadership lies in safeguarding human dignity above all. 

Niger has the opportunity to set a powerful example of humanitarian excellence that honours both international law and traditional African values of Ubuntu and hospitality. 

Our Respectful Appeal to Your Leadership

We, the undersigned, respectfully request the following actions:

1. Immediately and unconditionally restore full food assistance, water and other necessary utility access to all residents of the Agadez Humanitarian Centre.
2. Guarantee continuous, comprehensive medical care, including emergency evacuations and mental health support, within 30 days, monitored by an independent health partner.
3. Reinstate the refugee status of those wrongfully stripped of protection and end targeted persecution.
4. Initiate an independent investigation into camp conditions, including medical negligence, all reported deaths, and violent crackdowns. Allow independent observers, journalists, and NGOs full access to the camp, all within 30 days.
5. Expand resettlement and humanitarian evacuation opportunities to reflect the assessed need of 15,000 individuals, prioritising women, children, and the medically vulnerable, within 60 days.
6. Establish formal dialogue with recognised refugee representatives to co-develop lasting solutions and end intimidation of community leaders.
7. Fight against neocolonialism by ending participation in EU-financed containment strategies that violate human dignity and sovereignty.

Why Now? Because Time Is Running Out

We know Nigerien values. We know the people of Niger believe in justice, dignity, and compassion. The people of Agadez, both host and refugee, deserve policies that reflect those values. Your decisive leadership can make this vision a reality while earning Niger international recognition as a beacon of humanitarian excellence and African solidarity.

 

 

We place our confidence in your stewardship and await your swift, compassionate response. History will remember those who chose courage over complicity, dignity over detention, and hope over despair.

Signed in solidarity,

Concerned citizens, refugee allies, and members of the African and global community.

#KeepEyesOnAgadez