The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, in which thousands of migrants have drowned attempting to cross into Europe, highlights the urgency there is to find a solution to tackling certain forms of migration from North Africa and the Middle East. Across the EU, mounting internal political pressures have intensified debates about migration and asylum, encouraging policies devised to restrict and control asylum and migration. A recent initiative between the EU and nine states in and around the Horn of Africa, shows unprecedented political will to push for more effective migration management.

In 2014, Eritreans composed the second largest migrant group (after Syrians) to Europe, reaching 34,320 according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). These figures give an indication of the ongoing and prolonged political repression in Eritrea and tragically these asylum seekers often face further insecure conditions in Libya—a hub for migrants en route to the EU, and a country on the brink of state collapse.

Further south, last week Kenya called for the UN to close the Dadaab refugee camp on its border with Somalia within three months. This comes as a response to Al Shabaab’s latest terrorist attack in Garissa, where 147 students, mostly those singled out as being Christians, were killed by gunmen in their university accommodation. Dadaab is Africa’s largest refugee camp, and home to an estimated 500,000 refugees from neighbouring Somalia.

The Khartoum Process

The EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative, also known as the ‘Khartoum Process’, aims to tackle trafficking and smuggling of migrants between the Horn of Africa and Europe. The Khartoum Declaration was adopted and formally launched in Rome on 28 November 2014. Participants included ministers of the 28 EU countries and Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the European and African Union Commissioners in charge of migration and development and the EU High Representative. Norway and Switzerland were also present as observers.

Through this initiative, the EU pledges to support Horn of Africa states both politically, and with financial and technical assistance in order to manage migration originating from the Horn. The Horn of Africa states in question are major producers of migrants and asylum seekers and also transit countries for migrants from other countries.

Hosting or creating refugees?

It is essential to harness existing political will to address the root causes of migration in the Horn. It is also important to provide countries in the region with the capabilities and resources to establish transit centers for migrants on the move. However, governments like Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan – all participants of the Khartoum Process – have policies and political systems that directly render them responsible for creating conditions that produce refugees and migrants in the first place. Initiatives such as the Khartoum Process are therefore disadvantageous for migrants whose lives depend on mobility strategies that take them outside of their countries and often the Horn of Africa altogether.

Through this initiative, the EU states have entered in to dialogue with Eritrea, which has a dismal human rights record and whose state policies of compulsory national service, in addition to extreme poverty, pushes thousands of Eritreans each month to leave. While the Khartoum Process aims to address the root causes of migration, it does not provide a framework for drastic change in the political system in Eritrea (which is what would be necessary to stem the flow of migrants).

In practice, EU states negotiate with Eritrea to secure a number of guarantees in order to facilitate the return of rejected asylum seekers in the future. These include guarantees against torture and indefinite detention as punishments for leaving the country.

Proponents of greater migration control within the EU increasingly favour the use of political and economic incentives as an approach to prevent migration from the Horn of Africa. The return of asylum seekers to Eritrea is seen as a viable option if the Eritrean government can demonstrate that it is able to ensure the safety of its citizens who are returned from the EU. International observers have welcomed signs that Eritrea is willing to enter regional discussions such as the Khartoum Process.

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