Addis Ababa –The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is expanding its support to the complex humanitarian needs of stranded Ethiopian migrants in East and Horn of Africa and Yemen and deported migrants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). 

With funding from the Government of Sweden, amounting to 20 million Swedish Krona (USD 2.28 million), IOM will prioritize supporting unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), pregnant and lactating women, women with small children, girls, persons with medical conditions, victims of trafficking, migrant vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, older persons and persons with disabilities.

This collaboration – encompassing interventions in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Yemen – is bringing much needed assistance to over 50,000 vulnerable migrants in among the world’s busiest and most perilous migration routes, where they face a wide range of protection risks. 

During the first six months of 2021, migration flows have been increasing again and are now nearing pre-COVID-19 levels, with an estimated 138,000 migrants entering Yemen in 2019. Forced returns from KSA also illustrate the magnitude of migration flows on the Eastern route, with over 400,000 such returns since May 2017 and over 71,000 in 2021 to date. On the Southern route, 17,000 migrants are estimated to be making the journey annually to South Africa according to the Mixed Migration Centre (2019). 

Sweden and IOM recently also partnered regionally towards a well-coordinated, informed, and timely response to COVID-19 in eastern and southern Africa through mobility tracking systems and capacity building efforts to reduce COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality. 

For more information, please contact Kaye Viray, IOM Ethiopia: kkviray@iom.int.