Beyond Europe’s borders: Ousman Saine on the wider impacts of migration control

EMMIR student Ousman Saine has brought his expertise on migration into the Norwegian public debate, co-authoring an opinion piece on the far-reaching consequences of European border control.

The article, “Debatt: De ukjente konsekvensene av Europas grensekontroll” (“Debate: The unknown consequences of Europe’s border control”), was published on 14 August in Dagsavisen, a Norwegian newspaper with a long tradition of political and social debate.

Ousman co-authored the piece with Veronica Øverlid, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Intercultural Communication (SIK). Together, they examine a question that often receives less attention in European discussions about migration: What happens beyond Europe when Europe strengthens its borders?

When Europe's border moves beyond Europe

The article takes recent events at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta as its starting point. Images of thousands of people attempting to cross from Morocco into Spanish territory have once again placed European border security at the centre of political debate, including renewed calls for stricter migration controls.

But Saine and Øverlid argue that focusing only on what happens at Europe's physical borders misses a much bigger part of the picture.

Over the past two decades, the EU and its member states have increasingly worked with countries in North and West Africa to prevent irregular migration towards Europe. This can include strengthening border authorities, supporting maritime interception and entering agreements with countries along major migration routes.

In practice, the authors argue, this means that European migration control increasingly takes place far beyond European territory, including in countries such as Morocco, Senegal, Niger and The Gambia.

Other approaches have sought to address the reasons people migrate in the first place. European funding has supported employment programmes, youth initiatives and livelihood projects across the region. These initiatives can bring benefits to the communities involved, but the authors point to criticism of what happens when development assistance becomes closely tied to the objective of reducing migration.

The consequences can also be economic. Informal economies built around long-established migration and trade routes may disappear when those routes are restricted, without alternative sources of income taking their place. Increased migration controls can also interfere with existing agreements on free movement within West Africa, affecting regional trade and mobility that have little to do with migration to Europe.

Stricter borders do not necessarily mean less migration

The article also challenges the assumption that closing migration routes will stop people from moving.

Research suggests that when one route becomes inaccessible, people often find another, potentially more dangerous, way to travel. Saine and Øverlid therefore argue that responding to events such as those in Ceuta primarily with calls for stronger border controls risks creating further consequences elsewhere.

Their central point is a simple but important one: Europe's migration policies do not end at Europe's borders.

Decisions made in Brussels and European capitals can shape mobility, livelihoods, regional economies and migration routes thousands of kilometres away. Understanding European migration policy therefore also requires looking at its effects in the countries and communities where those policies increasingly operate.

For Ousman, these questions connect his EMMIR studies with his professional experience. Alongside his studies, he is employed at The University of the Gambia and previously worked with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in The Gambia.

Their contribution to Dagsavisen is also an example of how migration research and expertise can reach beyond academic spaces and contribute to wider public conversations about how migration policies are understood, discussed and shaped.

The original opinion piece, “Debatt: De ukjente konsekvensene av Europas grensekontroll,” was published in Norwegian in Dagsavisen on 14 August 2026.

Read the original article in Dagsavisen here.