Following violence, hostilities, human rights violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the northern part of Mali since January 2012, large numbers of Malians have been seeking refuge in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger or displaced internally.

According to UNHCR estimates, statelessness affects millions of people worldwide, at least 700,000 of which are in West Africa. There are many factors contributing to the risk of statelessness in the region, which suggest that the population at risk is very large.

Mixed movements refer to complex population flows: people using the same routes and modes of transportation to travel, but moving for different reasons, and with different needs. In these flows, refugees move alongside people fleeing financial hardship. West Africa is a place of complex mixed movements, inside the region or from the region to other parts of the world, such as Europe through the Central Mediterranean route.

Today, there are 22,000 Ivorian refugees hosted in West Africa. Since 2011, UNHCR has facilitated the voluntary return in safety and dignity of over 70,000 Ivorian refugees and and continues to do so.