IOM, through its African Capacity Building Centre (IOM ACBC), in close collaboration with the IOM mission in Ethiopia and the IOM Regional Office in Nairobi, organized a four-day training (from 24 to 26 April) on Integrated Border Management (IBM) and the Migration Information Data Analysis System (MIDAS) for Ethiopian Border Management officials. 

Fourteen immigration and border officials from Immigration headquarters in Addis Ababa and border crossing points in Afar, Amhara and Somali Regional States took part in the training.

With the overall objective of supporting the Government of Ethiopia in establishing an integrated border management system, the training enhanced the participants’ understanding of current migration and border management issues in the Horn of Africa, improved their capacities in migration data collection and travel, with the ultimate goal of improving the country’s overall border management and foster cross-border cooperation.

As part of the practical session of the training, trainees visited the Holili-Taveta One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at the border between Tanzania and Kenya, where they were provided with a broader orientation on day-to-day OSBP operations.

The training was conducted under the framework of the Better Migration Management (BMM) programme financed by the European Union Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Positioned as the key migratory hub in East and Horn of Africa, Ethiopia serves as a key country of origin, transit and destination for mixed migration within and beyond the immediate region towards Europe, Middle East and Southern Africa.

Ethiopia is host to the second largest refugee population in Africa, sheltering over 900,000 refugees and asylum seekers. The complex nature of Ethiopia’s migration dynamics demands a multi-dimensional intervention that acknowledges the nexus between migration facilitation and security.

“Recent political developments in the continent such as the adoption of the African Union (AU) Protocol to facilitate free movement of persons in Africa and resumption of labour migration to the Middle East have intensified the need for Ethiopia to manage its borders to strike the right balance between border security and facilitation of regular and legal movement of persons and goods respectively while addressing protection needs of migrants and other vulnerable populations,” said Malambo Moonga, Migration Programme Coordinator at IOM Ethiopia.

"The outcome of this training will positively contribute to the road map agreed upon the recent high level meeting between Governments of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania that aimed at finding durable solutions to irregular migration out of Ethiopia towards the southern route," stated Dr. Qasim Sufi, IOM Chief of Mission in Tanzania.

Under the framework of a Capacity Building in Border and Migration Management (CBMM) programme, IOM and the Government of Ethiopia are working together to build a comprehensive migration and border management system to meet Ethiopia’s immediate and long-term border and migration management needs in a manner fully consistent with international standards for migrant protection, movement of goods and services, and border security.

For more information, please contact IOM’s Special Liaison Office in Ethiopia: Kederalah Idris, Email: kbasher@iom.int; or Hugo Genest, Email: hgenest@iom.int.