Eritrea

Thhe Intergovernmental Authority on Development in East Africa has developed a Freedom of Movement Protocol which integrates international labour standards and also addresses mobility due to climate change

The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the mobility of goods, services and people all around the world and regional and national authorities struggled to find common guidelines which could be applied homogenously. This was the case also for the Eastern and Southern African region, where different Regional Economic Communities (RECs) operate simultaneously, resulting in overlapping memberships with several countries in the region belonging to various RECs. Of these, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) represents the largest of the eight RECs and comprises 21 Member States.

This project is funded under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Stability addressing the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa.

In the Horn of Africa, the IGAD Secretariat, with support from Switzerland and the Platform on Disaster Displacement, has embarked on a multi-year project (2018-2021) on Improved Migration Governance for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.



It includes activities to:

1. Strengthen national and regional migration governance capacities;
2. Enhance cooperation on South-to-South mobility; and
3. Increase preparedness in preventing and responding to disaster and climate related displacement.  

The program aims to improve migration management in the region, and in particular to address the trafficking and smuggling of migrants within and from the Horn of Africa. The priority is to strengthen the rights of migrants and protect them better from violence, abuse and exploitation. The aim is to make migration in the region easier and safer.



The program’s activities are being implemented on four levels:

Climate change has always been one among several push factors for internal displacement and cross-border migration in Eritrea and in the other countries in the East and Horn of Arica region. The Eritrean Government tries to face such a situation -and continues its efforts to reduce Eritrean migration- by working towards bringing a drastic solution to water scarcity problems in the country. The Government’s policy focuses on water and soil conservation in the framework of a Sustainable Integrated Growth that involves all socio-economic sectors.

The Mixed Migration Monitoring Mechanism Initiative (4Mi) of the Mixed Migration Centre is a low-cost and innovative practices to collect and analyse data, initially out of the Horn of Africa, through mobile phone applications and community-based reporting. Through a network of thirty locally-recruited monitors in strategic migration hubs in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, the 4Mi project tracks Eritrean, Ethiopian, Djiboutian and Somali people on the move.

The Nabro Volcano in the sparsely populated Southern Red Sea region of Eritrea unexpectedly erupted for the first time on record on June 12, 2011, with very little warning, and bearing significant societal and environmental consequences during several days of eruption. Most of the impacts of the volcano fell on the Eritrean village of Siroru. At the same time, strong seismic activities occurred on the other side of the border in Ethiopia, at the Mallahle volcano area.

Eritrean women, including those still in immigration processes and abroad are invited and welcomed to join Eritrean diaspora organizations, such as women associations.  Diaspora women associations have contributed greatly to the establishment of institutions that aim to empower women in Eritrea. They have collected money and financed the construction of office buildings in several areas in Eritrea intended for women and their development through training, job offers, counseling, and assistance.

The National Union of Eritrean Women, an association with branches in numerous countries, addresses matters related to gender and women’s empowerment and involvess second-generation migrants