Migration Along the Eastern Route (October 2024)

About the report
The Horn of Africa and Yemen is one of the busiest and riskiest migration corridors in the world travelled by hundreds of thousands of migrants, the majority of whom travel in an irregular manner, often relying on smugglers to facilitate movement along the Eastern Route. This regional report provides monthly updates on the complex migratory dynamics through Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen based on diverse data sources and consultations with key informants in the four countries. Moreover, it provides information on the main protection concerns for migrants along the journey, a focus on children and information on the forced returns from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen.

Key findings:

• As of October (199,000), exit movements from Ethiopia in 2024 surpassed all exits tracked in 2023 (185,000).

• Exit movements from Ethiopia increased for the fifth consecutive month, with October seeing the highest recorded number since the Flow Monitoring operations began in 2018.

• Unaccompanied children exiting Ethiopia continue to account for 50% of all children exiting Ethiopia (760 out of 1,500), most of whom are boys (62%).

• Tracked movements by women and children in Bossaso heading to Yemen increased by 33% (3,111) from September (2,344), representing half (47%) of all movements. This was the highest number of women and children ever tracked in Bossaso through Flow Monitoring. Additionally, in October (21,400), cumulative total movements by this population in 2024 surpassed all such movements tracked in 2023 (19,300).

• As of October, spontaneous returns from Yemen to Somalia (732) surpassed all that of 2023 (651).

• Due to migrant arrests and forced returns from Buuhodle, smugglers abandoned migrants in remote areas, forcing them to endure long and exhausting journeys on foot.

• At the MRCs in Ethiopia, people seeking assistance, including children, reported extortion or bribes; detention; withholding of identity documents; and/or physical or psychological abuse at varying but high rates.

• In Djibouti, 130 people perished while migrating in October. Most of the deceased (123) drowned after smugglers forced them off the vessel in open waters off the coast of Godoria, while in three different incidents, seven other migrants passed away due to different factors, including lack of adequate healthcare, road accidents and harsh environmental conditions.