As part of the campaign “Together We Can Fight Secondary Migration”, IOM SLO Ethiopia organized a music concert and poetry and painting art show in Mai-Tsebri town, Tigray Region on 8, 9 and 10th November, 2014. The campaign targets Eritrean refugee community members hosted in refugee camps in Northern Ethiopia. At a rate of 2,000 per month, the number of daily arrivals from Eritrea, including Unaccompanied Minors has increased recently, with more than 200 Eritreans crossing the Ethiopian borders every day. Many of the refugees arrive in refugee camps in Ethiopia aspiring to facilitate secondary migration to reach European destinations in search of better economic prospects and family reunification.

Gross human rights violations including organ removal, rape, torture, detention are committed on refugees leaving the refugee camps along the routes trying to reach European shores. The music concert, theater shows, sport activities, improvement of the youth friendly spaces under this campaign are designed to encourage the most vulnerable community members to engage positively in the camp activities in addition to reinforcing messages on risks of secondary irregular migration. The concert this weekend featured the hit Tigrigna singers Abraham G. Medhin and Eden Gebresillassie and musicians from the Eritrean refugee community and was attended by close to 20,000 Eritrean refugees and the host communities. Organized by IOM and the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), the touring concert was staged at Adi-Harush, Mai-Aini and Hitsase Eritrean refugee camps on three consecutive days. IOM has also distributed 5,500 Information, Education and Communication materials focusing on the risks and consequences of secondary migration and human trafficking for the audience at the camps. The project is financially supported by UNHCR.