Thousands of Ethiopian migrants have returned to their home country from Sudan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and other countries, according to IOM. Many returned because they lost their jobs abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lebanon is providing temporary shelter for a group of Ethiopian domestic workers abandoned by their employers. It will repatriate some of them, but COVID-19 quarantine measures mean the pressures of returning home are likely to be even greater.
In an initiative promoted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 20 migrants who have returned to Gambia are producing protective equipment for COVID-19 for frontline border officials.
For migrants in Germany considering going back to their home country, returning voluntarily is a viable option. On top of existing return programs, the German government supports a series of reintegration projects for returnees in various countries of origin around the world. We take a look at the different voluntary return and reintegration support schemes.
Tens of thousands of people have set out from West and Central Africa in recent years in the hope of reaching Europe. Not all have completed the dangerous journey – opting instead to retrace their steps and return to their families. But going home brings new risks – including being seen by the community as ‘a failure’.
Since the beginning of the year, Germany has deported nearly 17,000 people. The vast majority of them were moved to to EU countries, following the Dublin Regulation.
As a growing number of Afghan refugees and migrants are returning to their county, finding housing for millions of Afghans is becoming one of the greatest challenges of the country, a senior government official told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Groups of Nigerian women who tried to make the journey north to Europe have been forced to return south, after having been trafficked and held captive as prostitutes in Libya. Lucky to have escaped with their lives, they're trying to make the best of a difficult situation back home alone with fatherless babies. But now they say they're being punished for having "Libyan" children.
The European Union has decided to commit an additional 18 million euros to its joint initiative with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Horn of Africa. The initiative aims at improving assistance to migrants along the migrant routes that depart from the region.
Since 2016, Germany has deported about 600 Afghans whose applications for asylum were rejected. When they land, they are given €150 and left to fend for themselves. Observers say this practice is irresponsible.
After spending seven years in Spain, Issa went back to live in his village in Senegal. He told InfoMigrants that many people who are headed to Europe underestimate how hard life can be for migrants.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that last week it assisted in the voluntary repatriation of 222 Ethiopian migrants out of Yemen, with four flights from Sana'a to Addis Ababa. So far in 2019, the organization has helped 733 migrants voluntarily return from war-torn Yemen to their home countries.