The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday appealed for $58.5 million again to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to over 1 million vulnerable migrants on the “Eastern Route,” which runs from the Horn of Africa to Yemen and Gulf nations.
The UN migration agency in a statement said the lack of funding is resulting in a severe cut in access to humanitarian assistance and protection for migrants, including help provided in migrant response centers along the route.
“The re-appeal for funds is urgent and will help to address the needs of some of the most vulnerable migrants in the region and across the Africa continent,” the IOM said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
In February, the IOM and 47 humanitarian and development partners appealed for 84.2 million dollars but so far only 2 million dollars has been provided.
According to the IOM, the “Eastern Route” is one of the most dangerous and complex human migratory routes in Africa and the world.
Hundreds of thousands of people primarily from Ethiopia and Somalia travel the route each year in the hope of reaching Gulf countries to find work and face extreme life-threatening dangers including starvation, hunger, and dehydration.
The migrants, the IOM said, are often targeted by people smugglers and traffickers, and can face kidnap, arbitrary arrest, detention, and forced recruitment into warring groups, particularly in Yemen.
MG/abj/APA