Addis Ababa – The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) today (23.11) signed an agreement pledging to safeguard, uphold, and fulfil the rights of vulnerable migrants and to coordinate a range of activities in migration management, governance, protection, preparedness and response, as well as durable solutions.

The agreement was signed by State Minister Alemante Agidew and Abibatou Wane, IOM’s Chief of Mission to Ethiopia at the Ministry’s premises in the presence of government officials, members of the National Partnership Coalition for Migration (NPC) and media representatives.

The agreement will allow the parties to work together to enhance orderly and dignified migration and mobility in Ethiopia in line with the country’s legal, policy and institutional frameworks. 

Several areas are covered under the agreement, including migration governance, migrant protection, free movement, labour migration and mobility, diaspora engagement, border governance, irregular migration, forced migration, transitional justice and information-sharing.

“As a collaborative endeavour between the Ministry of Justice and IOM, the Cooperative agreement is a reflection of both entities’ commitment to more fully harnessing the benefits of migration at country level and effectively addressing the real drawbacks when migration is not well-managed,” said Minister Alemante Agidew.

He continued by saying that since 1995, IOM has supported Ethiopia's efforts to manage migration and to institute a comprehensive migration governance architecture.

Among the steps he mentioned in the evolution of Ethiopia's migration governance were the adoption of the anti-trafficking proclamation No. 909 in 2015 to address irregular migration and the recent proclamation No. 1178/2020, which expanded the jurisdiction of the National Partnership Coalition for Migration to include a broad dimension of migration and related issues like refugees and internally displaced persons.

“Considering the complexity of migration in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa at large, the task ahead of us requires that we closely cooperate to ensure migration is well-governed and to design programmes that realize the developmental benefits of well-governed mobility,” said IOM Chief of Mission Abibatou Wane.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for coordinating governmental and non-governmental stockholders involved in the country's migration governance, especially in the prevention and control of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants within the framework of the NPC.

The NPC promotes a comprehensive approach to migration management, involving government agencies, non-government organizations, faith-based organizations, and United Nations agencies.

For more information contact Eric Mazango, emazango@iom.int