IOM & partners seek $84 million to aid Yemeni migrants in Horn of Africa

Sana’a, 20 February 2023 (TDI): The International Organization for Migration (IOM) & its partners are seeking $84 million to provide humanitarian aid & development assistance to over one million migrants of Yemen in the Horn of Africa & communities hosting them.

Regional Migrant Response Plan by IOM

The recently launched Regional Migrant Response Plan would address the needs of migrants and provide them protection, especially those facing vulnerabilities along the treacherous Eastern Route towards the Arabian Peninsula.

Moreover, other objectives of this plan are to scaling-up the delivery of lifesaving and resilience-building initiatives and implement long-term sustainable solutions for migrants and host communities.

The Regional Migrant Response Plan would also address the immediate and critical humanitarian and protection needs of migrants in vulnerable situations.

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Also, it would support their voluntary return home in a safe and dignified manner and ensure that they reintegrate back into their communities successfully.

“The plan provides a flexible mechanism for all stakeholders to respond to evolving migration trends & broader humanitarian & development challenges affecting migrants, host communities, & the respective governments,” said Vitorino, Director General, of IOM.

The funding would further help to address the drivers of irregular migration and strengthen the capacity of governments in the region on migration management, including ensuring greater coordination and collaboration.

Challenges

The Eastern route of this region is among the busiest, most complex, and most dangerous migration corridors in the world, cutting through deserts, seas, and war-ridden Yemen.

Thousands of people from countries in the Horn of Africa leave their homelands and take to it in search of a livelihood, every year.

These people flee to avoid several crises such as persistent insecurity and conflict, harsh climatic conditions, and public health emergencies, along with socio-economic drivers and more traditional seasonal factors.

The majority of people make the most dangerous crossing of the Red Sea through Bosaso in Somalia, and Djibouti’s coastal town of Obock to Yemen and further by land to Gulf countries.

Increased Crisis

Some 145,545 migrants entered Djibouti, last year, as the number of migrants doubled. Furthermore, deaths and disappearances of more than 80 migrants were recorded along the Eastern Route.

The deaths were caused due to hazardous transportation, illness, harsh environmental conditions, drowning at sea, and violence.

“The Eastern Route is an underserved crisis easily forgotten amidst other global crises, and we must accord the migrants the support and dignity they deserve,” said IOM Director General, António Vitorino.