HOW TO INVESTIGATE MIGRATION WITH SCARCE SOURCES AND LIMITED PRESS FREEDOM?

IMANE BELLAMINE

I.BELLAMINE@PROTON.ME

@IMANE_BLM

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ENASS.MA

• Access to official data is restricted or opaque.
• Authorities avoid accountability on border violence, discrimination, deportations, shipwrecks.
• Gaining migrants’ trust is challenging, largely because many media outlets have historically done harmful or irresponsible reporting.

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CHELLENGES?

How to do the work ?

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Develop your own knowledge system, since official data is often incomplete, inaccessible, or intentionally unclear.

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You can rely on micro-reporting: gathering fragments from different cities and communities, then assembling them to reconstruct the truth.

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Create parallel evidence systems

Triangulate fragmented traces

Field verification even with limited access

Protect yourself and sources

APPROACHING SOURCES FROM WITHIN MIGRANT & REFUGEE COMMUNITIES THEMSELVES

Spend time in their spaces community gatherings, shared apartments, support groups not to extract stories, but to become familiar faces.

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• Interviews are source-led: migrants decide

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• Treat the community as holders of expertise, not “victims to be described.”

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• Aavoid the “hero narrative”: migrants are not saviors nor symbols of tragedy; they are co-investigators of their own reality.

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CASE STUDY1

A soudanaise refugee, one of only two women who attempted to cross the Nador–Melilla border on 24 June 2022: an excellent example, not of a traditional investigation

A form of close, human-centered journalism that highlights courage and resilience.

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but of a long process of building trust with a valuable witness,

documenting her testimony, and following up on the story personally.

Hawwâ, Border violence told by women

Focused on routine violence and pushbacks experienced by migrants, highlighting the role of European funding in these operations.

Investigation conducted by Enass.ma, in collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and other international media.

Documented in detail how European policies against irregular migration are implemented in Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia

Desert Dump: Deportation of Migrants in Morocco

CASE STUDY 2

At least fifty-three victims of desert expulsions including civil servants, academics, and activists were contacted for the purposes of this investigation.

Conduct an investigation that may not be perfect, but is thoroughly verified and well-sourced.

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Carry out an investigation that helps break the silence and challenge the omertà surrounding migration issues.

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CASE STUDY 3

Produce an investigation that is neither conventional nor “neutral,” but grounded in fairness, accuracy, and accountability.

Sexual abuse of minor refugees

at the Casablanca Church.

ETHICS & BOUNDARIES WHEN WORKING WITH VULNERABLE SOURCES

Informed consent is continuous

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Default to anonymity and safety:

Risk assessment for every sentence

No extraction of trauma

Community safety is part of journalistic accuracy

OUR ROLE AS JOURNALISTS: EXPLAIN, DECORTICATE, ANALYSE THE INFORMATION

Migration is often emotional, politically instrumentalized, and misunderstood. Our job is not to repeat official statements — it's to explain, break down, contextualize and analyse information so the public can understand what is actually happening, beyond rhetoric.

• Who is responsible for a policy or event?
• What are its implications, short and long term?
• Who is being impacted, and how exactly?
• How significant are these impacts?
• How does reality differ from what officials claim?

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This is how we help audiences build their own informed opinions

This means answering:

Build alternative information networks when institutions block access.

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LESSONS LEARNED & RECOMMENDATIONS

Work from within communities.

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Prioritize harm reduction in publication decisions.

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Neutrality or detachment is impossible when the stories involve people’s lives and human rights violations.

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Recognize that migrants and refugees are collaborators in verifying reality, not passive victims.

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Counter stereotypes and official narratives.

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HOW TO INVESTIGATE MIGRATION WITH SCARCE SOURCES AND LIMITED PRESS FREEDOM?

IMANE BELLAMINE

I.BELLAMINE@PROTON.ME

@IMANE_BLM

​

ENASS.MA