Harare - IOM Zimbabwe facilitated the return of 27 Ethiopian (all male) youth migrants in coordination with the Embassy of Ethiopia in Harare, and with cooperation from the Department of Immigration. As the leading United Nations (UN) Migration Agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has long been called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants stranded in transit who have no means of returning home, or continuing their journey, and who are not eligible for assistance under existing  programme.

Direct humanitarian assistance to the 27 Ethiopian young migrants included, as needed: transportation from Points of Entry (POEs), holding centres, registration, non-food items (NFIs), and personal protective equipment (PPEs). The presence of 15 of the 27 returning migrants were reported  in March 2020, in the Gwanda District of Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe, where they were being kept in homestead by a smuggler due to closure of Beitbridge border post as a result of COVID-19.

“He was meant to assist us cross the border to South Africa, since we did not have the proper documentation”, said one of the migrants. “We travelled on foot from Ethiopia up to Zimbabwe”, they continued. Their route - Kenya, Nairobi, Mombasa, Nduma, Dar-es salaam, Lusaka then Zimbabwe.

IOM is especially concerned with meeting the growing needs of displaced populations and people on the move most at risk. Migrants are often vulnerable due to the circumstances of their journey, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated those conditions.

With a strong migration culture from ages, yet, many of the young Ethiopian migrants who use the Southern corridor route to migrate to South Arica- for economic reasons- remained unaware of the risks and challenges of the journey. These include the high likelihood of experiencing hunger, dehydration, or malaise in transit, along with the possibility of being abused and exploited.  

IOM’s assistance to return the  migrants in a safe and dignified way to their country of origin has relieved the returnees from the very difficult and vulnerable situation that they found themselves  with respect to the COVID-19 measures put in place by governments.

According to Mr. Mario Lito Malanca, Chief of Mission IOM Zimbabwe “considering the ongoing COVID-19 and its impact on human mobility , assistance to stranded migrants regardless of their status, being smuggled or trafficked, irregular or regular, so long as there is an established humanitarian need and a confirmed desire to move, resources are needed to be mobilized to ensure the human dignity and wellbeing of the migrants”.

The migrants were assisted jointly through the European Union (EU)-IOM Joint Initiative and the IOM Global Humanitarian Assistance to Stranded Migrants (HASM) programmes.

The objective of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative is to reduce the suffering of vulnerable migrants in the Southern  Africa region through the provision of life-saving humanitarian and voluntary return assistance ,in response  to some of the COVID 19 related needs.  HASM provides a flexible and quick return assistance to stranded migrants in difficult circumstances for whom support is not readily available from any known sources or programmes.

For more information, please contact Teklewoine Kassaye  at IOM Zimbabwe, Tel. + 263 772 47 34 34, Email: tkassaye@iom.int