The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has distributed non-food items to migrants and vulnerable communities in Djibouti.

The assistance, funded by the European Union (EU), reached 203 vulnerable migrants and 47 people from the host community, according to a tweet from the organisation.

It is understood that the EU also released funds to enhance IOM’s support to the government of Djibouti, to manage migration issues, refugees and vulnerable populations in need.

‘Today [IOM in Djibouti] signed an agreement for an additional 2 million euros from the [European Union in Djibouti]’, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Stéphanie Daviot, tweeted.

A report by Expertise France shows that Djibouti finds itself caught in the middle of several factors that are driving bi-directional irregular migration from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, and vice versa.

Conflict, drought and violence in the Horn of Africa have forced many to seek protection in Djibouti. Its position has also made it a transit country and the main route for migration towards Yemen and beyond.

Every year, tens of thousands of mainly young East African migrants make the dangerous journey from countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia to Djibouti in a bid to get to the Middle East.

IOM had reported that roughly 138,000 people made the journey in 2019, compared with 37,500 in 2020 – evidence of the impact of movement restrictions prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Djibouti hosts about 31,096 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly Somalis, Ethiopians, Eritreans and, lately, Yemenis fleeing war.

World Bank data also shows that droughts and other climate change impact have left local Djiboutian pastoralist populations more vulnerable and impoverished than the refugees in the camps.

The World Food Programme (WFP), in its 2021 Djibouti Country Brief, noted that the country’s poverty rates stood at 79 percent, with 42 percent of the Djibouti population living in extreme poverty.

Djibouti aims to improve the welfare of migrants and that of host communities through the country’s first National Strategy for Migration, launched with the support of the IOM in 2021.

The strategy is expected to offer assistance and promote sustainable livelihoods for migrants impacted by conflict, protracted crisis, climate change and the lack of jobs.

Photo source: IOM Djibouti