It’s not exactly headline news that many countries are inventing all sorts of novel ways to seal their borders from migrants and refugees or, when those efforts fail, to force the uninvited and unwanted to leave. It is news, however, when Europe funds, supports, and encourages governments of countries like Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania literally to dump refugees in the Sahara as either punishment or powerful disincentive for trying to escape to Europe.

Of course, on paper the lucrative deals the EU and individual European governments offer North African countries to stop migrants can be made to sound like humane, sensible solutions to the risks of leaky boats crossing the Mediterranean. But are they?

How are the hundreds of millions of euros paid to transit countries actually used? How are would-be refugees treated? Who assures their safety and survival? Does anyone worry about their human rights, never mind watching out for the kind of corruption that such programs can spawn?

There are answers to those questions, but they aren't pretty. Recently a collaboration of journalists, led in part by the Dutch-based organization Lighthouse Reports, published their conclusions under the headline, "Desert Dump.” May Bulman, Investigations Editor of Lighthouse Reports, summarizes what they learned.

Europe should be ashamed.

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