The European Court of Auditors expresses criticism of the EU Trust Fund for Africa aimed at addressing the root causes of irregular migration
According to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) projects have reported the delivery of many of the planned outputs and partially achieved their objectives. Despite this, the financial support from the EUTF support is still insufficiently focused on the agreed priorities. Furthermore, there are challenges in relation to reporting, ensuring the sustainability of results and safeguarding human rights.
In 2015, the European Commission created the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) to address the root causes of instability, forced displacement and irregular migration and to contribute to better migration management. The Fund has received more than €5 billion in contributions and supported 27 African countries. The final date of implementation of the EUTF Africa has been set to the end of 2025.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) was tasked with carrying out an audit to examine whether the EUTF had focused its support on achieving its aims of addressing the root causes of instability, irregular migration and forced displacements in Africa, with due concern for human rights.
In a special report published on 25 September 2024, the ECA concluded that EUTF projects had reported the delivery of many of the planned outputs and partially achieved their objectives but underlined inter alia that:
- Support remained insufficiently focused by addressing a too wide range of development, humanitarian and security actions.
- All of the projects that were examined responded to needs, but not always those that were most urgent. The EUTF’s governing bodies had not sufficiently analysed or taken account of beneficiaries’ needs.
- Human rights risks were not comprehensively addressed. The Commission has not yet defined either formal procedures for reporting and following up allegations of human rights violations, or practical guidance to clarify in which situations EU support may be suspended.
- The EUTF's new monitoring system suffers from data accuracy issues. There is still insufficient data to establish whether projects have helped to address the root causes of instability, irregular migration, and displacements.
Based on the audit, the ECA made recommendations, including:
- Increase evidence-based targeting of geographical areas and beneficiaries;
- Strengthen the identification of human rights risks and take mitigating action;
- Improve the accuracy of reported achievements.
For further details, please read the press release from the European Court of Auditors and the special report entitled "The EU trust fund for Africa: Despite new approaches, support remained unfocused".