More funding to stimulate return and reintegration of migrants in the Horn of Africa – Yemen

08/17/21

Djibouti – New funding from the European Union (EU) will help the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its partners accelerate the assisted voluntary return and reintegration of vulnerable and stranded migrants in the Horn of Africa, a region among the most active and the most dangerous migratory routes.

“The complementary funding will allow the program to further consolidate the past four years of collaborative and learning efforts by partners and IOM to set new standards for the protection and reintegration of migrants,” said Mitsue Pembroke, Deputy Regional Coordinator of EU-IOM. Joint Initiative for the Protection and Reintegration of Migrants in the Horn of Africa (Joint Initiative EU-IOM).

The latest funding of € 5.95 million brings the total allocation to the EU-IOM Joint Initiative to € 64.7 million.

So far this year, 99 migrants have died in the Horn of Africa, while at least 30 other Ethiopian migrants have perished in a shipwreck off the coast of Yemen in July, according to the Missing Migrants Project. IOM which tracks the deaths of migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers. applicants who cannot be considered along migratory routes around the world.

The new funding will also help build the capacity of government and other partners and stimulate the collection and analysis of migration data to support evidence-based programming. Information and awareness will also be supported.

The Horn of Africa has three major international migration routes – “the eastern route” to the Arabian Peninsula, and in particular Saudi Arabia, via Obock in Djibouti or Bosaso in Somalia; “The northern route” through Sudan to North Africa and Europe; and ‘the Southern Route’ to the southern part of the continent, in particular South Africa.

The eastern route represents the highest number of irregular movements and deaths in the region.

Ethiopian men account for 72% of migrant arrivals to Yemen’s shores, according to the IOM report A Region on the Move 2020, but many unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) also make the dangerous journey. The share of CMUs increased from 6% in 2019 to 9% in 2020.

Overall, 71% of all migrant children along the “Eastern Route” in 2020 were CMUs, up from 46% in 2019.

In addition to dangerous sea crossings, dehydration from walking in desert conditions in Djibouti and Somalia is another risk factor.

Since March 2017, the EU-IOM Joint Initiative has provided lifesaving assistance to more than 7,000 migrants in transit and destination countries across the region, enabling them to return safely and with dignity to their countries of origin. origin.

Almost 9,000 returning migrants have been helped to resume their lives in their home communities in Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, as well as in Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. Assistance included the establishment of 42 community projects, with an overall target population of 216,000 people.

The joint EU-IOM initiative has also enabled the secondment of migration specialists to the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

In addition, funds have been allocated to a network of one-stop shops, located at key points along major migration routes, which provide vulnerable and stranded migrants with shelter, food, personal hygiene supplies, in addition to health and psychosocial assistance.

About the EU-IOM Joint Initiative

Launched in December 2016 with the support of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the program brings together 26 African countries from the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the Horn of Africa and North Africa, as well as the European Union and the International Organization for Migration, around the goal of ensuring that migration is safer, better informed and better governed for migrants and their communities.

For more information, please contact Julia Hartlieb at the IOM Regional Office in Nairobi, E-mail: [email protected] or Wilson Johwa, E-mail: [email protected]