the same country or further afield.157 A recent survey in Nigeria found that seven of the 36 states of the federation had populations made up at least 40 percent of internal migrants.158 Migration within the West African region is facilitated by the free movement of persons under the treaties applying among the 15 Member States of ECOWAS (see below, section 5.1).159 Even though the ECOWAS regime only allows up to 90 days visa-free presence in another ECOWAS country, and an extended stay theoretically requires a residence permit, few ECOWAS citizens resident in other ECOWAS countries in fact have such documents, which can be rather difficult (and expensive) to acquire in practice. Many migrants within the ECOWAS region in fact have no documentation at all; borders may only be subject to controls at the major entry and exit points, and it can be easy to cross with no passport or other travel document. Even to cross the external borders of ECOWAS, for example to travel into Libya or Algeria from Niger, documentation may not be needed so much as money: the transport routes are well organised, and, according to migrants’ reports, border guards may ask for cash instead of checking documents at the border posts. In the context of the instability in Libya since 2011, unregulated militias control much of the desert zone in the south of the country, and official paperwork is of no use at all in crossing their territory.160 Although obviously possible, existing without documentation in a foreign country leaves a person open to police extortion and with major problems in integrating into the formal economy, as well as accessing a wide range of other rights supposedly guaranteed to all by constitutions and international human rights treaties. An identity document was the most immediate need expressed in a survey of 172 migrants by UNHCR and IOM in 2013 in Niger and Togo – 60 percent mentioning documentation as a more urgent requirement than transport, food, health care, shelter and other needs. More than half of these migrants lacked any travel document, many of them having been confiscated by the police in the various countries through which they had passed.161 The Red Cross also notes that former prisoners are often undocumented, and may face difficulties on release from prison, since some are not prepared to contact their own consular authorities, or there is no consular presence in the country.162 In most cases, however, it seems that it is possible for those migrants who are undocumented to reestablish paperwork of their home country; however, it may require the assistance of a humanitarian agency of some kind. Most important among these agencies is IOM, which will assist migrants stranded in another country to return home, even if well beyond West Africa, including by facilitating the acquisition of documents from their country of claimed nationality. For example, in the case of 569 stranded Sri Lankan migrants identified by IOM in nine West African countries, 553 were assisted to return home, among whom IOM supported 60 who lacked documentation to obtain a laissez passer 157 Dieudonné Ouedraogo, “Migration and Population in West Africa: Political Issues and Perspectives”, in OECD/SWAC, Regional Challenges of West African Migration: African and European Perspectives, OECD Publishing, 2009. 158 National Population Commission, Internal Migration Survey in Nigeria, Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2010. 159 As well as among the eight francophone countries, plus Guinea-Bissau, that are members of UEMOA. A national of one of the eight UEMOA member states only requires a national identity document to cross a border to another member, and bilateral agreements extend this right to some other borders within and beyond ECOWAS. 160 Interviews IOM staff throughout the region; Father Mauro Armanino, Catholic Cathedral, Naimey, May 2014. 161 Silvère Konan, Migrants en détresse: Analyse de situation et cadre de protection: Le cas du Niger et du Togo, UNHCR and IOM, July 2013 162 Regional Office, International Committee of the Red Cross, Dakar, May 2014. 50