EU-IOM Joint Initiative

for Migrant Protection and Reintegration

Saving lives is the highest and most urgent priority. The EU-IOM Joint Initiative is supporting relevant authorities to conduct search and rescue operations in the desert and at sea in full respect of migrants’ rights.

• Within Libya, IOM continues to advocate for the closure of all detention centres and provides humanitarian assistance (including health and psychosocial assistance), referrals, counselling as well as the rehabilitation of the facilities. IOM also supports migrants outside of detention centres with urgent humanitarian assistance.
• Activities with the Libyan coast guard under the Joint Initiative include supporting life-saving interventions for migrants who are rescued or intercepted as well as human rights training and support for the identification of migrants in vulnerable situations.
• In Niger, migrants who leave Agadez trying to reach Libya or Algeria through the desert can sometimes find themselves, for various reasons, abandoned or stranded in this desert. IOM, in collaboration with the Directorate General of Civil Protection, is undertaking search and rescue operations to find and bring migrants to safety at three of IOM’s Migrant Resource and Response Mechanisms (MRRMs) centres in the Agadez region and provided with psycho-medical assistance and counselling.

The EU-IOM Joint Initiative is supporting protection and assistance initiatives to migrants in vulnerable situations including stranded migrants, victims of trafficking (VoTs), Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMC), migrants with serious medical conditions (including HIV/AIDS), and other categories of those at-risk.

Forms of assistance include:

• Basic needs assistance including non-food items, hygiene kits and food assistance;
• Vulnerability screening;
• Psychosocial support;
• Health services and support;
• Family tracing and assessment, when appropriate, family reunification support;
• Best interest assessment and determination for unaccompanied children in cooperation with UNICEF;
• Risk assessment for victims of crime;
• Alternatives to detention in Libya (where possible) and the facilitation of longer-term solutions, which may include Voluntary humanitarian Return (VHR).

Upon arrival in their countries of origin, migrants in vulnerable situations receive support tailored to their specific needs, including medical and psychosocial support at individual and family levels.

IOM also builds the capacity of local and national actors on protection, countering gender-based violence, counter-trafficking, and human rights.

Saving lives must go hand in hand with comprehensive measures to improve conditions for migrants along the migration routes: The goal of the MRRMs is to provide a wide range of services to improve conditions for migrants:

• Food and water
• Accommodation in open centres
• Medical and psychosocial care
• Legal options and information
• Voluntary return and reintegration support
• Referral specialized assistance and referral for asylum seekers, victims of trafficking, unaccompanied or separated migrant children and other migrants in vulnerable situations

MRRMs in transit locations will be provided through centres in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia. Additional MRRM in regions of origin focused on providing welcome/reception assistance to returning migrants and reintegration support are also being explored with national authorities in several countries.

Assisted Voluntary Return (VHR) and Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) are important protection measures and some of the options for stranded migrants facing dire conditions along the routes and who wish to return to their countries of origin but do not have the necessary means to do so.

More than 60,000 migrants stranded along the migration routes will be assisted to return to their countries of origin.

Migrants’ participation in IOM return assistance is voluntary. Each migrant decides on his or her participation and can withdraw at any stage of assistance. The voluntary returns are done with no prejudice to the principle of non-refoulement.

The support follows a tailored approach, putting the rights and the needs of the migrant at the forefront. Individual assessments are undertaken to tailor support to each migrant. For migrants in vulnerable situations such as victims of trafficking, unaccompanied or separated migrant children and migrants with health needs, IOM follows specific procedures with proper safeguards in place.

IOM has developed guidelines to mainstream protection throughout its AVR and VHR processes.

Facilitating access to consular services is an essential step in protecting migrants in vulnerable situations, including in the voluntary return process, family reunification, visa application on humanitarian grounds as well as humanitarian admissions.

To facilitate access to consular services for stranded migrants, the Joint Initiative’s support includes technical and financial support for consular missions, basic equipment, the shipment of documents, and the facilitation of video-calls.

In the longer term, the objective is to support interested governments to enhance consular services and improve procedures for identification and travel document issuance. Target countries may request specific support for these actions.