Ethiopia Making Migration Management Top Priority: Prevention of Trafficking in Persons, Returnees Affairs

Addis Ababa, November 10, 2026 (ENA)— Ethiopia is making migration management a top priority by improving its institutions and working with stakeholders, according to the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Returnees Affairs.

Speaking at the program held to mark the five-year Cooperation on Migration and Partnerships to Achieve Sustainable Solutions (COMPASS) in Addis Ababa today, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Returnees Affairs Chief Executive Officer Dereje Tegyebelu said.

According to him, the partnerships in Ethiopia have moved beyond individual projects to strengthen institutions, policies and coordination mechanisms.

Ethiopia is making migration management a top priority by improving its institutions and working with stakeholders, he added.

Dereje noted that “the ownership, strategic direction, and implementation of national migration priorities must firmly anchor in government institutions and national systems”.

“Effective partnerships are not simply about implementing projects; they are a strategic investment in national institutional capacity, sustainable systems, and the protection of human dignity,” he said.

The CEO pledged that Ethiopia would continue leading migration governance and ensure that external support aligns with national policies.

IOM-Ethiopia Chief of Mission Abibatou Wane described the five years as proof of the value of sustained cooperation and shared responsibility.

“Five years of COMPASS have demonstrated the value of sustained cooperation, shared responsibility and partnerships that connect policy with the realities of people and communities,” she said.

Wane stated that migration touches protection, employment, services, development and community aspirations, and cannot be addressed by one institution alone.

The IOM-Ethiopia Chief said IOM will build on COMPASS by expanding protection and referral services, advancing safe and regular migration pathways, strengthening labor migration governance, and investing in communities.

“Migration is multifaceted. It is connected to protection, employment, access to services, development, identity, mobility and the aspirations of individuals and communities. No single institution can address these dimensions alone. ” she stressed.

Netherlands Ambassador to Ethiopia, Christine Pirenne, highlighted concrete results, including the Overseas Employment Proclamation, a national migration communication strategy, community conversations against irregular migration, and community-based reintegration programs.

She recalled visiting a poultry-farming reintegration project in Jimma Zone, where returnees and aspiring migrants said local livelihood opportunities changed their decisions to migrate irregularly.

“The people I spoke to were adamant that they would not have opted for irregular migration had local livelihood opportunities been made available to them,” Pirenne said.

She added that a small IOM grant, local government support and people’s determination had created a self-sustaining business.

COMPASS is a strategic cooperation between IOM and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, operating in 14 countries to strengthen migration governance and protect migrant rights.