Senegalese migrants in Catalonia: not very large collective, vulnerable in

Socio-demographic description

Bearing in mind the general migration flows towards Spain described above, Senegalese-born are, comparatively, not a large migrant group in the country. At the same time, although the Senegalese form the largest group of people originally from Sub-Saharan Africa now living in the country but, overall in Spain, but also in Catalonia, Moroccans are the largest community of citizens born in African countries.

Moreover, according to National Statistics, in the period 1995-2015 in Spain, Moroccans have been in the top three of foreign-born immigrant collectives in terms of population.

Focusing on the distribution by autonomous community of those born in Senegal residing in Spain, National Statistics shows, first, that during the period 2000-2016 most of the Senegalese in Spain lived in Catalonia (more than a 30% since 2005)¹⁸. Second, migration in the period has been mainly undertaken by men, being that the Canary Islands is the autonomous community with the highest percentages of women of the total Senegalese residents (above 35%). In the case of Catalonia, when

16 From Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya, Idescat, data from municipal registers, www.idescat.cat [last access November 3, 2018]

17 The highest scores being for family reunion, labour market mobility and permanent residence. The lowest score (unfavourable) being for education. See: http://www.mipex.eu/spain [last access 11 January 2018]

18 According to INE database, the number of Senegalese born citizens residing in Catalonia (the proportion over the whole Senegalese born citizens in Spain) was: 1.929 in 2000 (27%), 10.284 in 2005 (35%), 20.166 in 2010 (33%), 20.160 in 2016 (32%). Andalucía, the second autonomous community with the highest number of Senegalese born in the period, has received, in numbers, approximately half of those living in Catalonia. E.g., for instance, 10.096 Senegalese born were living in Andalucía in 2010 (source: www.ine.es).

compared to other foreign groups, the community has a high ratio of male migrants.

The data from July 1 2017 points to the Senegalese as the foreign group with the highest percentage of men (74,7%) over women (25,3%), being followed closely by the Pakistani nationals.¹⁹ Apart from the fact that a large majority of the Senegalese population residing in Catalonia are men, they are also quite young: the Generalitat of Catalunya reported that 49,5% of Senegalese residents in Catalonia were within the range of 30 to 44 years old,²⁰ in 2016.

The territorial distribution of the Senegalese in Spain can also be explained in the light of their migration background in the country. Still, as regards to the evolution of Senegalese-born citizens in Spain, there is a lack of official data concerning the number of Senegalese residents there before 1990. They were a very small collective at that time, and they were often put in the generic box of 'Sub-Saharan immigrants' (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 25). Another reason behind this lack of data is connected to the fact that in that period, due to Senegal’s government restrictions and a more facilitative approach in Gambia, many young people of Senegalese origin arrived to Spain with a Gambian passport²¹. Therefore, tracing back Senegalese immigration often entails considering Gambian residents. This is also why different researchers within Spain used 'Senegambian' as an adjective of place to refer to this collective when they started investigating it (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 25).

Even though the bulk of Senegalese arrived to Spain from the 2000 onwards, and this goes hand in hand with the overall rising in-flow that is particular to the first decade of 2000, a 2001 survey showed that 27% of Senegalese had arrived to Spain before 1991 (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 25). According to researchers, Catalonia (specifically the county of Maresme, and overall the coastal part of the region) was among the first places where Senegalese settled Spain at the beginning of the 1980s

19Other selected data related to non-EU citizens are: 54,7%men/45,3%women for Moroccans;

71,3%men/28,7%women for Pakistani; 28,1%men/71,9%women for Hondurans;

42,2%men/57,8%women for Bolivians. Data elaborated by the Generalitat de Catalunya:

http://treballiaferssocials.gencat.cat/web/.content/03ambits_tematics/05immigracio_refugi/perfils_dem ografics/PERFIL_Paisos.pdf [last access 21/12/2016]

20 Data elaborated by the Generalitat de Catalunya:

http://treballiaferssocials.gencat.cat/web/.content/03ambits_tematics/05immigracio_refugi/perfils_dem ografics/PERFIL_Paisos.pdf [last access 10/12/2016]

21 Gambia and Senegal, besides sharing non-colonial languages and ethnic systems, were under the same sovereignty between 1765-1779 and 1982-1989 (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 1)

(Jabardo Velasco, 2006; Sow, 2005).²² Originally, they came mainly from the departments of Kolda and Velingara (both departments are configured nowadays within the region of Kolda, which is object of study in this research) (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 27), but it is worth recalling that a proportion of them moved to Spain from France or Italy.

Besides this first flow of migrants originally from Southern Casamance – with Sarakole (also called Soninke), Halpulaar (also called Fula), or Manding backgrounds and more linked to the agricultural sector – researchers identify another flow integrated by Wolofs who had come to the capital (Madrid), Las Palmas (Canary Islands) and important coastal and touristic cities in the Mediterranean as operational sites for their trading or street vending activities (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 28; Sow, 2005). This second group of Senegalese is mainly identified as arriving in the 1980s and beginnings of 1990s and was organised using religious brotherhoods, notably Mouridism. In the case of Spain, according to Jabardo, Mouridism and the Wolof ethnic group had a stronger visibility partly based on the fact that they had among its members the most qualified Senegalese migrants and because the first Immigrant Association of Senegalese emerged from that collective (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p.

29).

Nonetheless, even though people with Gambian nationality were the collective number 5 in terms of number of residents in Catalonia in year 2000,²³ their relative position has changed over time, and, in fact, the Senegalese is not an especially large foreign national group in Catalonia (they were the 16^th in 2010, the 12^th in 2015, the 15^th in 2017, according to Catalan Official Statistics: Idescat). The highest increase in the number of Senegalese living in Catalan localities took place in 2004, when Senegambian municipally-registered citizens grew by 41,3% (more than 3.000 people) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 2). The quantity of Senegalese residents

22 Even in 2016, Maresme’s capital, called Mataró, is the municipality with the highest absolute number of Senegalese-born in Catalonia (1.456 inhabitants). Data from municipal register at 1st of July 2016, elaborated by the Generalitat de Catalunya from Idescat http://treballiaferssocials.gencat.cat/web/.content/03ambits_tematics/05immigracio_refugi/perfils_dem ografics/PERFIL_Paisos.pdf [last access 10/12/2016]

23 Since 2000, the first foreign-born collective in Catalonia were Moroccans (33,46% of foreign-born population in 2000, 20,84% of foreign-born population in 2015), while Senegalese had a share of 1,06% of foreign-born population in 2000, and 1,93% of foreign-born population in 2015). Data from:

http://www.idescat.cat/poblacioestrangera/ [last access March 8, 2018]

grew in Catalonia until 2013, year in which the total number slightly decreased until 2016. Territorially, they are not present in all Catalan municipalities (in 2010, only 43% of Catalan municipalities had a resident of either Senegalese or Gambian origin) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 4). In the northern coastal areas, the municipalities surrounding the capitals of Girona and Lleida have higher concentrations of Senegalese residents (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 4).

Vulnerability in rights

Concerning social and economic rights, and according to Jabardo, Senegalese migrants were a socially and politically ‘invisible’ collective working most often irregularly. At the central government level, they were socially invisible until the first Immigration Law 7/1985 and the subsequent policymaking (such as the first Integration National Plan of 1994, that is, the Plan para la Integración Social de Inmigrantes). At the same time, they were largely considered as ‘illegal’ during the period between the 1985 law and the first regularisation process in 1991.²⁴ Africans had to be recognised as immigrants to obtain worker status. Family reunification and the increasing presence of women after 1991 created migrants as social services subjects (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, pp. 104–106).

It is worth recalling, though, that Jabardo’s analysis of the Senegalese in Spain was published before the global economic crisis that hit the country from 2008 onwards²⁵. Regarding unemployment rates per national origin in Catalonia, according to 2015 data, in absolute numbers Senegalese was number six among those foreign groups with more unemployed people registered at the Catalan Occupation (public) Service (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2015, p. 9). Besides, Moroccans and Senegalese share the highest rates of unemployed people with only primary studies or less (51,4% and 51,9%, respectively) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2015, p. 9). From a household

24 When the first regularisation process of 1991 took place, the 80% of the total regularisation demands in Spain came from those who were officially Gambian citizens in Barcelona and Girona, both Catalan provinces directly connected with the selected migrant associations under study (Jabardo Velasco, 2006, p. 27).

25 The Spanish situation represents an extreme case within the context of ‘developed’ countries: in 2009 the unemployment rate doubled the rate in the EU-15, and in that year it ‘only’ reached the 18,8% of people the labour force unemployed (Medina et al., 2010, p. 37). The highest unemployment rate during the crisis to date was reached during the first term of 2013, when the unemployment rate in Spain was 24,98%. In that same period Catalonia also reached its highest unemployment rate of the period (20,84%) (data from INE website). Unemployment affected most of all low-skilled sectors, young people and immigrants (Arango, 2016; Miguélez et al., 2014).

perspective, governmental data from 2014 about the number of households with all their members unemployed, and without social benefits, locates the Moroccan group in first place (with almost a 30% of households with all active members unemployed and no social benefits) and Senegalese in second place (almost 25% of households with all active members unemployed and no social benefits) (Pinyol-Jiménez, 2016, p. 23).

As regards to national citizenship, currently the majority of Senegalese or Gambians citizens were born in their countries of origin (in 2010, 84% of Senegalese or Gambian in Catalonia were born in Senegal or Gambia) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 2). Senegalese citizens cannot vote (nor be elected) in Spanish elections unless they have Spanish nationality (in which case they are considered as naturalised)²⁶. Generally, as is written in the Spanish Constitution (Art.13.2), the right to vote and to stand as a candidate is exclusively reserved for Spaniards apart from municipal elections, where the right can be granted by treaty or by law according to a criteria of reciprocity – which signifies that people from 39 nationalities – approximately the 55% of the foreign population registered at municipal level – had this right granted in 2015 (Bermúdez and Escrivá, 2016, p. 304).²⁷ In this vein, the Spanish naturalisation scheme means that Senegalese, or Moroccans, unlike Latin Americans, have a more difficult path towards naturalisation²⁸. Consequently, the access of Senegalese and most African-born citizens living in Spain to basic political rights is not easily gained. Given the difficulties of the Spanish naturalisation scheme, it is considered a highly discretional and discriminatory process, and one of the most negative towards immigrants comparing to the UE-15 (Pinyol-Jiménez and Sánchez-Montijano, 2015, p. 2).

26 Between 2004 and 2009, a total of 2,516 Senegalese citizens obtained Spanish nationality, which meant the 60,9% of the naturalizations granted to the collective over Spain in the period (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2011, p. 2).

27 In the municipal elections of 2015, only twelve bilateral reciprocity agreements had been signed between Spain and other non-EU countries to allow foreign citizens on Spanish soil to vote (but not to be elected) in municipal elections. And there is only one African country among the twelve countries with which agreements have been signed, Cape Verde. Besides, all those non-EU foreign nationals willing to participate in local elections have to fulfil a form that is inscribed in the CERE (Censo de Extranjeros Residentes en España), and this is mentioned by many experts and migrant associations as a barrier to electoral participation (Bermúdez and Escrivá, 2016, p. 306).

28 The Spanish naturalisation scheme, is considered highly discretional and discriminatory, and one of the most negative towards immigrants when compared to the UE-15 (Pinyol-Jiménez and Sánchez-Montijano, 2015, p. 2).

Concerning other discrimination factors such as those based on ethnic background or colour of skin, there is research (for there is no official data regarding this subject) that focuses on police stops, searches, and identifications by ethnic profiling investigations, based on two surveys. Thus, according to this research, there is higher number of identity checks carried out by the security bodies in Spain when compared to other countries. Moreover, in comparing the share of those individuals identified when compared to the national Spaniards, a very high proportion of those searches are targeted towards individuals of ethnic minorities and migrant foreigners of certain nationalities (García Añón et al., 2013). The research is consistent with claims made by human rights’ NGOs, for some time. For instance, the NGO called SOS Racism has published an Annual Report on Racism in the Spanish State since 1995. The last available issue, focused on the Catalan case, and sustains the argument that most often discrimination is suffered by Sub-Saharans, and those individuals expressing having suffered discrimination pre-eminently signal abuses from police and private security forces (SOS Racisme Catalunya, 2017).

1.3.4 Senegalese (and Sub-Saharan²⁹) migrant associations explained by the literature

In the case of Spain, a range of studies focused on autonomous communities (regions) or cities provides evidence of the phenomenon of migrant or ethnic organisations according to group-based characteristics. In this regard, in terms of the amount of associations, there is evidence of Sub-Saharan migrant associations having a higher density of number of associations per population than other migrant collectives in the country. ³⁰ Thus, when pondering the total associations’ number with the number of people in each national group research shows that there are, on average, 129,57 Sub-Saharan associations for each 100.000 municipally registered Sub-Sub-Saharan people, ahead of the 29,38 associations (the second largest relative number) per 100.000 municipally registered Asian individuals, or 15,10 Latin American associations (the

29 Despite the fact that some of the following studies do not tackle Senegalese migrant associations

‘per se’, but Sub-Saharan migrant associations, the findings regarding Sub-Saharan migrant associations are considered as applying to those of the Senegalese too (most of the population from Sub-Saharan countries in Spain are from Senegal and Gambia).

30 For instance, the overall study by Aparicio and Tormos, analyses the official national registers of the Barcelona province, and those of the autonomous communities of Madrid, Murcia and Valencia and found that in absolute numbers migrant associations from Latin America or Sub-Saharan Africa are more numerous than those from other national origins (when the study was undertaken there were 150 nationally registered Latin American migrant associations and 126 Sub-Saharan migrant associations) (Aparicio Gómez and Tornos Cubillo, 2010, p. 52).

third largest relative number) (Aparicio Gómez and Tornos Cubillo, 2010, p. 52). A set of complementary hypotheses are put forward to explain these differences, such as the weight of social or clan culture in each region of origin; the influence of the native society’s migrant stereotypes which may increase the likelihood of those more disadvantaged collectives creating groups; or the fact that some migrant collectives have a longer presence in the country (Aparicio Gómez and Tornos Cubillo, 2010, pp.

53–54).

Besides, research focusing on the transnational performance of Senegalese, shows that at an individual or household level, transnational migrant practices and transnational families seem to be common among Senegalese residing in main European countries of settlement France, Italy and Spain (Baizán et al., 2014;

González-Ferrer et al., 2014; Sinatti, 2011; Vives and Silva, 2016).

Additionally, the literature focusing on Senegalese migrant associations in France (mainly, see for instance, Lavigne Delville, 2010) and Italy (Riccio, 2011, 2005;

Sinatti, 2014) shows how informal institutions such as customary authorities, kin or caste-based systems (including nobility/allegiance-based systems) are renegotiated across migration processes and affect migrant gatherings. In the case of Spain, there is evidence that the informal institutions just mentioned in the previous sentence are present in Senegalese migrant gatherings (Crespo Ubero, 2006; Solé Arraràs, 2014;

Sow, 2005).

At the same time, it is important to contextualise the extent to which transnational practices are widespread among Senegalese associations. Indeed, as other studies suggest is the case in the US (Guarnizo et al., 2003), migrant associations’

transnational activities are not generalised among migrant associations settled in Spain. And when migrant associations engage with transnational practices, most often they do so by undertaking more than one type of activity (Garreta Bochaca and Llevot Calvet, 2013; Morales and Jorba, 2010). In particular, considering the overall aims and activities mentioned by migrant associations, and consistent with Morales and Jorba's findings, Garreta and Llevot find that co-development activities are not among the most spread out among the African migrant associations studied, as they

are mentioned in 26% of cases.³¹ (African) migrant associations combine these type of transnational activities with others more focused on settlement localities (Garreta Bochaca and Llevot Calvet, 2013; Morales and Jorba, 2010).

Even though transnational practices are not the most common among the African migrant associations, transnationally, they seem to be the most active migrant collective. Indeed, research focused on transnational migrant associations’ practices encounters higher degrees of transnational activity and formation of associations among Sub-Saharan migrant associations when compared to other national origins.

Two main studies are mentioned subsequently that support the latter statement. First, the study of migrant associations’ transnationalism in three Spanish cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia), undertaken within the framework of a larger European Project called LOCALMULTIDEM, found that ‘associational formation is not necessarily strictly proportional to the relative size of a certain migrant collective in a city’, moreover ‘non-Moroccan African organisations are also much more numerous than would be expected from the size of the populations in all three cities’. Subsequently, they conclude that this fact might be due to ‘relevant differences in organisational capacity depending on the regional and national origin of migrants’ (Morales and Jorba, 2010, p. 276).

Second, taking a closer look at how active the Senegalese collective is in co-development processes in Catalonia (over the whole territory, or at the local level), similar patterns emerge by analysing the extent to which the associations access public funding targeted towards international development at municipal level. Thus, the analysis of the distribution of local funds across different migrant groups reveals that, ‘by far the largest share of the funds is being allocated to Sub-Saharan (largely Senegalese and Gambian) migrant associations followed by North African (largely Moroccan) associations’ (Østergaard-Nielsen and Acebillo-Baqué, 2016, p. 376). It is worth noting that, despite the number of Sub-Saharan citizens being smaller than those originally from North Africa or Latin America, the number of associations

31 Garreta and Llevot’s research is based on African associationism. Their findings are based on a survey to migrant representatives from Catalonia, Valencia Country and Navarra. The associations are divided between North-African, Mixt (African associations with members from other national origins, most frequently Spanish citizens) and Sub-Saharan (Garreta Bochaca and Llevot Calvet, 2013).

accessing to local official development assistance from Sub-Saharan countries is higher than those from the other two locations³².

According to the literature, given that Sub-Saharan associations are more dense in comparison with other migrant collectives in Spain, higher degrees of civic presence and political presence of the associations are expected among government officials (Ramakrishnan and Bloemraad, 2008a, p. 21). Moreover, the literature on civic communities relate density with political participation and trust at local level (Fennema and Tillie, 1999).

Furthermore, Senegalese collectives settled in other countries such as France or Italy are also preeminent actors in co-development schemas (Spain is the third country in number of Senegalese citizens after France and Italy) (Ceschi and Mezzetti, 2014;

Datola, 2014; Grillo and Riccio, 2004; Riccio, 2011). Therefore, this evidence backs up the idea of Senegalese migrant associations being active in co-development despite the diversity of national environments and migration structure in each settlement country. Additionally, the diversity of policy environments results in different associational ecologies for Senegalese citizens in France, Italy and Spain (Lavigne Delville, 2010; Lessault and Flahaux, 2013; Riccio, 2011). This is in line with the hypothesis that, regardless of the place of settlement, there is a different capacity for transnational performance of migrant associations’ depending on the

Datola, 2014; Grillo and Riccio, 2004; Riccio, 2011). Therefore, this evidence backs up the idea of Senegalese migrant associations being active in co-development despite the diversity of national environments and migration structure in each settlement country. Additionally, the diversity of policy environments results in different associational ecologies for Senegalese citizens in France, Italy and Spain (Lavigne Delville, 2010; Lessault and Flahaux, 2013; Riccio, 2011). This is in line with the hypothesis that, regardless of the place of settlement, there is a different capacity for transnational performance of migrant associations’ depending on the