Borderline & Migration

A new assessment of Ethiopia’s border governance system has highlighted deep structural challenges across the country’s frontiers, including fragmented institutional coordination, widespread insecurity risks and persistent economic marginalisation of border communities. The study, developed by the Institute of Foreign Affairs with support from the African Union Border programme, reviews border conditions across multiple corridors, including […]

Irregular border crossings into the European Union fell by nearly 40% in the first five months of 2026, according to new data released by Frontex, the EU’s border and coast guard agency. Frontex recorded nearly 39,000 irregular crossings between January and May, down sharply from the same period in 2025. The agency attributed the decline […]

Threats and violence against foreign nationals in South Africa have become a recurring feature of the country’s social and political landscape. Since the largest outbreak in May 2008, when 62 people were killed, in Gauteng, the Western Cape and other provinces, anti-immigrant violence has flared periodically, leaving behind deaths, displacement and deepening mistrust between communities. […]

Global forced displacement declined for the first time in a decade in 2025, but millions of refugees remain trapped in long-term exile, prompting a call from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for a renewed international push to assist displaced people to rebuild their lives. According to UNHCR’s 2025 Global Trends Report, the number of refugees […]

Increased global shipping rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope since late 2023 has not translated into significant economic benefits for South Africa, despite expectations that higher traffic would boost port revenues. Most vessels are transiting rather than docking, limiting income from port services. At the same time, the surge has introduced new risks, including […]

South Africa is moving to modernise some of its busiest border crossings in a bid to strengthen its position as Southern Africa’s main trade and logistics hub, while also tightening security and improving the movement of people across the region. The government has committed R12.5 billion to upgrade six major land ports that handle more […]

The security focus on Africa’s borderlands is not misplaced, after all. Far from being remote peripheral spaces where instability occasionally spills over, many of the continent’s border regions have evolved into strategic corridors that sustain, connect and prolong conflict across multiple countries. Writing in African Arguments, researchers Olivier Walther and Steven Radil argue that borderlands […]

A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has expanded access to compensation for foreign nationals injured in road accidents in South Africa, affirming that migrant rights and access to justice cannot be restricted on the basis of nationality or immigration status. The significance of the judgment is reflected in the […]

Life in a refugee camp is often defined by waiting – waiting for food distributions, waiting for news from home, waiting for a chance to rebuild a life elsewhere. In Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, the waiting can stretch into decades, creating a sense of uncertainty that shapes every aspect of daily life. Now, aid workers […]