At the invitation of Niger, several Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs from West African and European countries, as well as from the European Union and international organizations, met on 16 March, 2018 to improve coordination in the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons between origin, transit, and destination countries.

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At the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted (hereinafter referred to as the "Niamey Declaration") where the Ministers expressed their full commitment to combat smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons, and to protect the rights of migrants and victims of trafficking. The Declaration aims at improving coordination and operational effectiveness of responses to these crimes, among others by further supporting the efforts of origin and transit countries and strengthening the data collection, international judicial cooperation and cooperation between various law enforcement entities.

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As a follow-up, in June 2018, a High-level Meeting was organized in Niamey to operationalize the Niamey Declaration. Permanent Follow-up Mechanism was established to ensure that the priorities and strategic actions that State Parties committed to in the Niamey Declaration are systematically monitored and delivered. UNODC Regional Office for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar, Senegal, was designated to act as the Secretariat for The Permanent Follow-up Mechanism for the Niamey Declaration. In this role, the UNODC is responsible for setting up and maintaining the structures and tools that allow communication, collection and organization of data from focal points related to each State Parties’ actions and monitoring and reporting on the progress made towards the achievement of the goals set.