"An IOM research aimed at gauging levels of human trafficking among Ethiopian migrants attempting to reach the Gulf countries via Somalia, has shed valuable light on smugglers and routes on a practice that is costing hundreds of lives each year. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Somalis use the port of Bossasso in Somalia's Puntland on an annual basis as a departure point for irregular migration to the Gulf countries via Yemen with many falling victim to the dangerous sea crossing and unscrupulous and ruthless practices of smugglers. The report, based on interviews carried out with a group of the most vulnerable Ethiopian migrants stranded in Bossasso in November 2006, found that although there was little information available regarding human trafficking, there was enough to indicate a well-organized smuggling network that ran from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to Bossasso en route to Yemen. Although the majority of Ethiopian migrants making the journey to Bossasso were young single men from the northeast of the country with little or no education, there were also women and some girls as young as 14-16 years of age. Naïve and vulnerable, the migrants had little to no awareness of the dangers of the journey on which they embarked. The migrants interviewed recounted horrible tales of thirst, hunger, exhaustion and attacks by Somali bandits as well as robbery and physical abuse along the journey from Addis to Bossasso, where they had all been arrested by Puntland authorities. The migrants, who have had to borrow anything between USD 115-800 to pay for their journey repeatedly spoke of individual 'brokers' established at various points. They said the brokers swindled or robbed them, stripped searched and attacked them by threatening to set fire to them if they didn't agree to pay for services they had no ability to provide such as the boat journey from Bossasso to Yemen. With information gleaned from the interviews, IOM has established a predominant smuggling route from the Ethiopian capital which took the migrants through the eastern cities of Harar and Hartishiek and then to the Somali town of Burao. After that, migrants were often abandoned in the desert to make their own way on foot to Bossasso, a journey which could take them anywhere between five to 21 days. By the time the migrants had reached the desert stage of the journey, they were usually left without any money, food, water or identity papers. They survived usually through the kindness of locals or by doing menial jobs. Upon arriving in Bossasso, they would have to ask families back home to wire them the money to pay for the boat journey to Yemen, which further increased their debt. ""Although the migrants may not realise it or think it, they were lucky in the end not to have done the sea journey to Yemen as they were arrested just beforehand. It is probably the most dangerous part of the trip,"" says IOM's Yitna Getachew, who wrote the report. About 330 people died last year making the sea journey and another 300 more went missing. Nearly 140 have died so far in 2007, according to UNHCR, with many missing. Most of the migrants interviewed were poor farmers trying to reach the Gulf in search of work as shepherds or housemaids lured by the apparent success of fellow villagers returning from the region. In a bid to tackle the issue, IOM will be raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration and on protecting migrant rights in Bossasso itself. The Organization will also carry out prevention activities such as awareness raising in Ethiopia and potentially Somalia on what is happening to migrants attempting to reach Yemen. IOM has also provided migrants stranded in the Somali port town who wanted to return home, assisted voluntary return assistance and health checks.

For further information, please contact: Bill Lorenz Tel: + +254 722 709362 E-mail: ""mailto:wlorenz@iom.int"">wlorenz@iom.int  Tal Raviv Tel: +254 20 4444 167 E-mail: ""mailto:traviv@iom.int"">traviv@iom.int  Charles Kwenin IOM Ethiopia Tel: +251 11 5511673 E-mail: ""mailto:ckwenin@iom.int"">ckwenin@iom.int "