Horn of Africa

The EU-IOM Joint Initiative in the Horn of Africa targets the core countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan in addition to other countries of the Khartoum Process (Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan) and countries on the Southern migration route including Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. 

Migration dynamics in the Horn of Africa region

Mixed migration flows are a common phenomenon  in the Horn of Africa. In 2017, consistent with previous years, the most popular route out of the region by volume was eastwards: across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to Yemen with onward movement to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries. In 2017, IOM estimated that almost 100,000 migrants crossed into Yemen from the Horn of Africa. The route’s continued popularity – despite crossing Yemen’s devastating war zone – is remarkable and underscores the extent that migration is viewed as a livelihood strategy by some migrants and communities. 

Looking north, Europe continues to be a major destination for migrants of the region. A combination of actions taken in transit countries contributed to a significant reduction in the numbers that arrived on its shores in 2017. However, there are still high numbers of migrants from the region currently in Libya and other destinations along the route as for example Sudan or Egypt.

Turning south, the route towards South Africa is also popular, particularly for young Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis. However, the number of migrants entering the Republic of South Africa (RSA), as a major country of destination along this route, has dropped significantly. Possible reasons put forward for the decline include xenophobia and policy change aimed at curbing irregular migration to RSA
 

Regional activities under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative in the Horn of Africa

To ensure a coherent approach to return and reintegration assistance processes, tools, procedures, key messages and guidance are developed at regional and cross-regional level. Key highlights from the regional level include: 

Regional Data Hub:  The Regional Data Hub seeks to expand migration data collection, ensure data interoperability, integration of primary and secondary data, and engage with key stakeholders to ensure effective use of data and analysis. Via this effort, it will assist state and non-state actors in countries of origin, transit, and destination to enhance migration governance and support evidence-based policies and processes. More information on the Regional Data Hub can be found here. 

Inter-regional and cross-regional knowledge exchanges: The EU-IOM Joint Initiative promotes identification of good practices that can be shared through inter-country exchange visits amongst priority countries, as well as organizing inter-regional and international knowledge exchanges on return and reintegration approaches. These exchange visits are also intended to support the development and roll-out of unified knowledge management tools and processes. They target relevant government institutions directly involved in the AVRR process under the Joint Initiative not only in the Horn of Africa but also in the other regions. 

Consular visits: The EU-IOM Joint Initiative facilitates consular visits of the relevant government representatives to countries where their nationals are stranded or detained. These visits are aimed at assessing the situations of the stranded/detained migrants including identifications of their numbers and needs as well as facilitating their returns and reintegration. The EU-IOM Joint Initiative in the Horn of Africa has already supported visits of the Somalia authorities to Libya and South Africa as well as the Ethiopian authorities’ visit to Tanzania.