Mustapha Sallah
he is a migrant activist and advocate, event organiser, music promoter and DJ as well as freelance photographer, videomaker and graphic designer.
In 2016, I embarked on the deadly irregular-migration journey to Europe known as the backway. I was detained in Libya and experienced severe breaches of human rights. Upon return in Gambia, I decided to found an organisation with other fellow returnees, which we called Youth Against Irregular Migration (YAIM). Since 2017, we implemented several awareness-raising campaigns (working, among others, with UNICEF, the German government, COOPI, the International Organization for Migration and the government of The Gambia), while offering counselling and support to returnees, in particular women and individuals with disability. As the face of YAIM, I have been interviewed by countless researchers and consultants as well as local and international news outlets, including CNN, Reuters, CGTN, Rai, ARTE and DW. I have additionally taken part in international and local conferences, among which the Africa Continental Youth Consultation Conference and the Youth Connekt Africa. In 2021, I was selected as the West African fellow by the Social Change Initiative (SCI), investing on the development of my capacity and allowing me to mentor 30 school-going children in the North Bank region of The Gambia. Together with Rossella Marino, I wrote publications featured in Migrationcontrol.info and UNU-CRIS’ blog Connecting Ideas. When it comes to my musical engagement, I became a DJ to promote local talents in The Gambia in the 2010s. In Belgium since 2022, I regularly dj in different venues, on a quest to bring Gambian music to the attention of a broader audience.
