Compilation/Overview

Cross-border transhumance is a long-standing traditional pastoral practice in West and Central Africa (WCA) whereby herders migrate seasonally, crossing borders with their livestock, in search of water and pasture. In a region characterized by long dry seasons, livestock mobility is an important form of adaptation, helping to build resilience to the climatic, economic and security risks and vulnerabilities faced by the region's herders.

This report aims to present, in a non-exhaustive way, the main results obtained by the implementation of the Transhumance Tracking Tool since its first implementation in 2019, up until June 2023.

La región de América Central y México se ha caracterizado por ser uno de los corredores migratorios más importantes del mundo. A lo interno se pueden identificar varios flujos migratorios. Por ejemplo, el tránsito de personas migrantes altamente vulnerables provenientes de Centro y Sur América, el Caribe, Asia y África con rumbo hacia el norte del continente. Así como la migración circular por movilidad laboral, entre fronteras de dos o más países.

Este último tipo de migración puede entenderse como un patrón de movilidad humana internacional continuo, a largo plazo y fluido, entre países que crecientemente son reconocidos como parte de un mismo espacio económico.

Este tipo de movilidad existe en la frontera entre Panamá y Costa Rica desde hace décadas, la población indígena Ngäbe - Buglé se moviliza desde sus tierras actuales a las zonas altas de la provincia de Chiriquí y la Zona Sur de Costa Rica para trabajar principalmente como recolectores en el cultivo de café durante las zafras o períodos de alta cosecha.

Cada año, desde julio hasta por seis meses se inicia la movilización de personas migrantes para trabajar en la cosecha de café. En promedio, el Servicio Nacional de Migración (SNM) de Panamá, emite nueve mil salvoconductos a población indígena Ngäbe - Buglé al año, para su cruce fronterizo y trabajo en Costa Rica. Estos documentos de viaje forman parte de la colaboración interinstitucional del SNM y el Ministerio de Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral de Panamá, gobiernos locales, y contrapartes costarricenses que coordinan la migración laboral regular de trabajadores y trabajadoras Ngäbe - Buglé, para la provisión de servicios y protecciones en sus lugares de empleo temporal.

While the north of Iraq was gripped by the ISIL conflict, social movements, and popular demands for change to the status quo were growing in the center and south of the country. The recurrence of protests and demonstrations trended upwards after 2017,1 feeding a negative drift in the social and political environment in these areas. Frustration over poor governance and stalled living conditions formed the base of the population’s demands for change. The lack of (efficient) responses contributed to growing distrust in institutions.2 Underlying this trend is a sense of marginalization, especially in the southern governorates of Iraq, which this brief aims to analyze in more detail. This brief is part of a larger research project, A Climate of Fragility, carried out by IOM Iraq and Social Inquiry, that provides the first detailed profiling of southern governorates in Iraq in a decade, exploring population demographics, housing, access to services, socio-economic situation, agriculture, migration, wellbeing, governance, security, and social cohesion. The profiling is based on a large-scale household survey. The survey included a household module (applicable to the overall household situation), a personal module (gathering perceptions of the respondent), and a roster module (collecting personal characteristics of each household member). A total of 3,904 respondents were surveyed between December 2020 and January 2021 across the 18 districts in Basra, Thi-Qar, and Missan governorates. Thus, the sample is statistically representative at the governorate and district level, with district-level sampling stratified by urbanicity and gender, generating a representative sample for urban and rural respondents and male and female respondents. The outputs of this project also include a household profiling report of Basra, Thi-Qar, and Missan governorates, two additional thematic briefs on various forms of capital and employment, and an online portal that includes all reports and analysis, key findings, a dashboard, and public datasets for use.

The coastal countries of West Africa are experiencing the impact of climate change and spill-over of the Central Sahel crisis. These vulnerabilities contribute to increased risks of conflict, crisis and a humanitarian situation that is worsening fast and significantly. In this context, there is an urgent need to strengthen the capacities of governments and other relevant actors to conduct evidence-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions to reduce disaster and climate related risks, while forced displacement is also a pressing risks. The coastal countries of West Africa – especially Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin – lack disaggregated data to make informed decisions on how to prioritize the responses in certain sectors and localities, as well as reliable information to identify the root causes of instability that are driving the deterioration of living conditions.

To help find durable solutions for populations in areas that could be more likely affected by a disaster and to prevent displacements in the region, it is critical to understand their relative levels of stability.​ In order to understand which factors influence a location's stability to identify priority interventions for transition and recovery, with the goal of strengthening the resilience and stability in this conflictual and displacement-affected region, IOM developed the Solution and Mobility Index (SMI) tool. This tool measures perceptions of stability and analyzes which factors have a relatively larger impact on the decisions of populations to remain in place or to move. The tool is implemented in the Upper East and Upper West regions in Ghana to enable governmental authorities and partners to develop informed strategies.

This report presents the results of the SMI Round 1 data collection conducted in Upper East and Upper West regions in Ghana between the 18th and 28th October 2023.

IOM continues to work in partnership with the National Disaster Centre and Provincial Disaster Centres in West New
Britain (WNB) and East New Britain (ENB) provinces to assess and assist communities affected by Mount Ulawun
volcano eruption. IOM in partnership with the local authorities deployed the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) within a
week following the eruption that occurred on 20 November 2023 and identified 8,565 persons (1,707 Households [HH]) displaced from the local villages to seven sites in WNB (5) and ENB (2). 1 A second round of the DTM deployed on
8-10 December 2023 has witnessed a 24.78 per cent decrease in the IDP population from the first round. This
decrease is largely due to the voluntary return of the IDPs to their villages as the volcanic activity has subsided. Local
authorities continue to monitor the situation and will formally communicate to the IDPs regarding return. This displacement
profile presents findings from the second round of the DTM.

This document is a compilation of data collected by IOM from FRONTEX as well as the Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Maltese interior ministries on migratory movements from Africa to Europe between 2017 and 2023 (January-September). IOM works closely with a wide range of actors, including government and non-government partners, to collect and compile this data every quarter. This document presents the situation of migrant arrivals in Europe based on data between 2017 and 2023 (January-September) from the point of view of movements from West and Central Africa (WCA).

This document presents the resumption of migration from the coasts of West Africa to the Canary Islands (Spain). This route, already active in 2006, saw an increasing number of movements in 2023. The risks, deaths and disappearances following shipwrecks are also on the rise along the Atlantic coasts. Between January and September 2023, 14,976 migrants reached the Canary Islands irregularly after crossing by boat from the coasts of West Africa, an increase of 19 per cent compared to 2022 (12,506 migrants).Nevertheless, risks and dangers along the West African Atlantic route remain and 26 shipwrecks were recorded along this route in 2023, resulting in the death or disappearance of 424 migrants.

Migración Circular en el contexto de la Zafra del café en Panamá

La región de América Central y México se ha caracterizado por ser uno de los corredores migratorios más importantes del mundo. A lo interno se pueden identificar varios flujos migratorios. Por ejemplo, el tránsito de personas migrantes altamente vulnerables provenientes de Centro y Sur América, el Caribe, Asia y África con rumbo hacia el norte del continente. Así como la migración circular por movilidad laboral, entre fronteras de dos o más países.

Este último tipo de migración puede entenderse como un patrón de movilidad humana internacional continuo, a largo plazo y fluido, entre países que crecientemente son reconocidos como parte de un mismo espacio económico.

Este tipo de movilidad existe en la frontera entre Panamá y Costa Rica desde hace décadas, la población indígena Ngäbe - Buglé se moviliza desde sus tierras actuales a las zonas altas de la provincia de Chiriquí y la Zona Sur de Costa Rica para trabajar principalmente como recolectores en el cultivo de café durante las zafras o períodos de alta cosecha.

El presente informe pretende presentar la metodología y los principales hallazgos del análisis de datos de la encuesta de movilidad laboral a población migrante transfronteriza en el punto de cruce de Río Sereno en la época de la Zafra del café 2023. El trabajo de campo para la realización de presente informe, Ronda 1, se implementó entre el 1ero y el 30 de agosto de 2023 por personal de la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM).

During the month of August 2023, a total of 52,184 movements were recorded and 3,363 migrants were interviewed across 37 Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs) in Zimbabwe. The total movements recorded increased by 15% compared to the previous month. Seventy per cent of movements observed were inflows, whilst 30% were outflows. The top three sending districts were Beitbridge (49%), Harare (14%) and Chiredzi (6%). Matabeleland South province recorded the highest number of outflows (55%) whilst Harare province recorded the highest number of inflows (31%).

The South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor recorded the highest movement of 42,394 (81%) followed by the Zambia-Zimbabwe corridor which recorded 5,764 (11%) movements. Forty-seven per cent of movements along the South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor were short-term movements, 20% were long-term economic movements whilst 18% were for family reunification. Of the migrants travelling from South Africa, 31% were going to Harare, 21% to Beitbridge and 7% to Bulawayo.

The Zambia-Zimbabwe corridor consisted of 58% short-term movements, 22% long-term movements and 20% family reunification movements. Of the migrants travelling to Zambia, 90% were travelling from Harare, 4% from Karoi and 4% from Bulawayo.

Migrants travelling from Matabeleland South highlighted Limpopo (68%), Gauteng (22%), and Francistown (3%) as their intended destinations. Of the incoming migrants travelling to Harare, 39% were travelling from Gauteng, 24% from Lusaka, and 11% from the Western Cape.

During the month of September 2023, a total of 49,211 movements were recorded and 3,315 migrants were interviewed across 38 Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs) in Zimbabwe. The total movements recorded decreased by 6% compared to the previous month. Sixty-four per cent of movements observed were inflows, whilst 34% were outflows. The top three sending districts were
Beitbridge (44%), Harare (15%) and Chiredzi (7%). Matabeleland South province recorded the highest number of outflows (49%) whilst Harare province recorded the highest number of inflows (32%).

The South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor recorded the highest movement of 39,187 (80%) followed by the Zambia-Zimbabwe corridor which recorded 6,161 (13%) movements. Forty-six per cent of movements along the South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor were short-term movements, 22% were long-term economic movements whilst 21% were for family reunification. Of the migrants travelling from South Africa, 27% were going to Harare, 22% to Beitbridge and 8% to Bulawayo.

The Zambia-Zimbabwe corridor consisted of 58% short-term movements, 22% long-term movements and 20% family reunification movements. Of the migrants travelling to Zambia, 75% were travelling from Harare, 9% from Bulawayo and 3% from Gweru.

Migrants travelling from Matabeleland South highlighted Limpopo (70%), Gauteng (20%), and Francistown (2%) as their intended destinations. Of the incoming migrants travelling to Harare, 31% were travelling from Gauteng, 28% from Lusaka, and 13% from the Western Cape.