Day: December 18, 2022

Every year, tens of thousands of children – many of them unaccompanied – attempt to make a hazardous journey from East Africa and the Horn of Africa to Europe along the Central Mediterranean Route, driven by factors such as conflict, climate crisis, persecution, economic hardship or shortage of opportunities in their home country. Children’s vulnerabilities and inadequate protection at high-risk points on the route such as border-crossings, leave them highly vulnerable to trafficking – which becomes increasingly likely as risk factors accumulate and compound on their journey.

Samuel Hall was commissioned by Save The Children to conduct research to understand how practitioners and policymakers can reduce the risk of child trafficking and exploitation. The research was conducted across the East Africa Central Mediterranean route, through Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt as part of Save the Children’s work on the East African Migration Routes project, mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC). Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Tunisia were among the top ten countries of origin of migrants reaching European shores in the first half of 2021. More than 200 individuals, including children, community members, practitioners and experts participated in the research.

The aim of the study is to support practitioners to develop more tailored risk prevention and protection interventions for child migrants at each stage of their journey and to influence the development of national and global policies that will strengthen the protection of child migrants in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and other transit and destination countries on the CMR.

Source: Save the Children

The United Nations Sunday marks International Migrants Day, to commemorate the contributions of hundreds of millions of migrants who have faced challenges to leave home for a better life.

This year’s celebrations occur as increasing numbers of European countries close their doors to refugees and economic migrants from Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. They are taking place as a growing number of migrants from Central America try to cross the southern U.S. border.

The United Nations says people do not willingly leave home. It says most of the world’s 280 million international migrants have been forced to move by conflict, persecution, desperate poverty, and, increasingly, climate change.

Many migrants, who lack legal pathways, take dangerous routes to countries of asylum. Many are exploited, abused, and die along the way. The International Organization for Migration estimates more than 50,000 migrants have died, and thousands more have disappeared over the past eight years.

IOM Director-General Antonio Vitorino says the world is failing to protect the most vulnerable people.

“Indeed, the world over, migrants move, often at great risks, for the most fundamental of reasons — to seek a better future for themselves and their families. Behind every journey there is a person, there is a story no less valid than our own. This year to mark International Migrants Day, I want to pay tribute to all those who have died or disappeared on the threshold of their dreams.”

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoes these sentiments. He says countries have a legal and moral duty to assist those in distress and provide health services and protection for vulnerable people.

“In seeking a better life, many migrants are in vulnerable situations, suffer from poor health and cannot access health services. We can prevent suffering and save lives by supporting countries to build resilient health and care systems that are sensitive to the needs of migrants,” he said.

The United Nations says migrants’ rights are human rights and must be respected without discrimination. These rights, it adds, pertain regardless of whether people are forced to flee or move voluntarily.

Source: Voice of America