Human rights advocate Mwanje calls for end to ‘cash-for-containment’ deals at World Social Forum

Ugandan legal scholar and human rights advocate, Mwanje Gideon, has called for an end to migration policies that allow wealthy countries to transfer their refugee protection responsibilities to poorer nations through financial and diplomatic arrangements.

Mwanje made the call at the World Social Forum (WSF) 2026 in Cotonou, Benin, where he spoke on a high-level panel titled, “Europe’s Pushbacks Lead to Libya’s Prisons for Refugees: Stopping Cash-for-Containment Deals.”

In his intervention, Mwanje criticised what he described as the growing externalisation of migration control by wealthy Western nations, warning that such arrangements shift the burden of international protection from developed countries to poorer host nations.

“When Global North nations strike ‘cash-for-containment’ deals, outsourcing their international legal obligations to developing countries, we must call it what it truly is—a modern slave trade,” Mwanje said in his address on August 6.

He argued that asylum seekers were increasingly being treated as commodities in international migration agreements, with developing countries receiving financial packages, infrastructure funding or diplomatic leverage in exchange for taking responsibility for migrants and refugees.

Mwanje used an analogy involving a wealthy businessman, “Mr. Sterling,” to explain the practice, likening wealthy countries to property owners who pay poorer neighbours to prevent desperate migrants from reaching their borders.

“That is externalization,” he said, arguing that the policy does not resolve migration pressures but merely transfers them to places where wealthy countries are less likely to witness the consequences.

The East African representative also warned that externalisation was having serious implications for countries in the East African Community, which already host large refugee populations.

According to him, the region is increasingly being exposed to bilateral cash-for-containment and offshore asylum-processing arrangements, the subcontracting of migration control to transit countries, and the erosion of regional asylum principles.

He cited Uganda and Kenya as examples of countries already hosting millions of refugees while facing pressure to assume additional responsibilities without adequate structural support or sustainable financial arrangements.

Mwanje further stressed the importance of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return or transfer of refugees and asylum seekers to places where they face persecution or serious harm.

He argued that states could not evade their international obligations simply by transferring asylum processing to third countries.

The report said Mwanje’s intervention attracted strong support from participants, culminating in a prolonged standing ovation and sustained applause from delegates.

During the forum, he also engaged with international organisations including Alarm Phone, Refugees in Libya, Borderline-Europe, EuroMed Rights and Afrique-Europe-Interact.

The organisations subsequently issued a joint declaration under the theme “Our Bodies Are Not Commodities,” condemning the monetisation of migration control and calling for an end to cash-for-containment arrangements.

The declaration also opposed the criminalisation of movement and the transformation of parts of North and East Africa into buffer zones for European migration policies, while urging states to respect the principle of non-refoulement.

Mwanje’s mission to the WSF, which ran from August 2 to 10, 2026, also resulted in recommendations for stronger regional legal defence networks, increased youth and student advocacy on refugee rights, and greater accountability for African governments involved in migration agreements with foreign powers.

The report said the mission helped elevate East Africa’s voice in international debates on migration, refugee protection and the externalisation of borders.