Addis Ababa – Today (6/24), International Organization for Migration (IOM) representatives met with senior officials of the Immigration, Nationality and Vital Events Agency (INVEA) for an initial discussion on the development of Ethiopia’s first National Border Management Strategy (NBMS), a document that states the government’s strategic objectives and priorities in the area of border management.

In 2020, INVEA requested the support of IOM to develop such a Strategy focused on human mobility, recognizing the need for the country to enhance its capacity to tackle border issues in a more effective and coordinated manner. The NBMS drafting process is expected to be launched in the next few weeks and completed by the end of this year.

The need for an NBMS was made clear through various activities jointly implemented by IOM and INVEA in recent years, such as capacity development trainings in Integrated Border Management, a comprehensive assessment of 30 border crossing areas, and the establishment of new official Border Control Posts (BCPs) at key locations along Ethiopia’s land border.

The necessity to develop an NBMS is also one of the recommendations that came out of an analysis that IOM conducted in early 2021 on Ethiopia’s border management legislative and policy framework, the content of which was also presented to INVEA during today's meeting.

"Ethiopia shares approximately 5,300 km of land border with six countries, and Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is one of Africa’s busiest airports. An NBMS is essential to better articulate our country's renewed vision of how our borders should be managed in a way that ensures public safety while protecting vulnerable migrants”, said Ato Mujib Jamal, Director General of INVEA.

The support provided to INVEA in drafting an NBMS is part of IOM Ethiopia's Strategic Capacity Building Framework in Immigration & Border Management, under which IOM assists the Government in improving its Immigration & Border Management governance framework, human resources capabilities, operational and technical capacities, as well as cross-border relations. 

“Under this Framework, IOM’s goal is to support the Government of Ethiopia to manage its borders and immigration system in a coherent, effective and sustainable manner. The development of an NBMS is key to achieving this objective,” stated Malambo Moonga, Migration Management Programme Coordinator at IOM Ethiopia.

“It will provide a framework for INVEA to determine its priorities in managing the movement of people at the border, and a planning tool to prioritize key interventions in that field.”

IOM's assistance to INVEA for a NBMS is made possible through the generous financial support of the Government of Germany.