By Woubishet Sisay Gessesse – Freedom Fund and its partners sign a three-year operational agreement with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs of Ethiopia to prevent irregular migration and to rehabilitate returnees.
The memorandum of understanding was signed on 22 December 2023 during the joint consultative meeting held at Skylight Hotel in the capital, Addis Ababa. Huria Ali, State Minister of the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, and Mr. Daniel Melese the Freedom Fund international humanitarian organization Ethiopia Bureau representative have signed MoU that aims to prevent irregular migration and to rehabilitate returnees, who are facing various difficulties.
The agreement targets to enhance the cooperation and coordination between the Ministry and the Freedom Fund, to support and rehabilitate returnees and integrate them with the society, as well as reduce their vulnerability to exploitation and violence. As government partner, a keynote speech was made on the occasion by Excellency Nigusu Tilahun State Minister of the Ministry of Labor and Skill.
Mr. Daniel Melese, the Freedom Fund Ethiopia country representative, on his speech gave briefings on the FFE – 2 years accomplishments and summary of the plan. He mentioned the FFEs activities since the hotspot Ethiopia was launched in partnership with Ethiopian government in July 2015. “Since 2020 by mobilizing local knowledge, the FFE had designed programs working on safe migration known as Biruh Ethiopia, Ethiopia Bete, Edget Ethiopia and LeZegochachin, while Biruh Ethiopia and Nigat Ethiopia were also programs designed for child domestic workers that the FFE is working on’’ said Mr. Daniel, adding that all the projects are based on basic principles of prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.
According to the country representative, the FFE so far had invested 15.4 million USD for implementation of their programs in Ethiopia since 2015; with direct beneficiaries of 181,000 citizens. Talking about the high cost effectiveness of all the programs carried out by FFE together with its partners, the amount required per individual to bring about the necessary change is only $85. A panel discussion also takes place with government stakeholders with FFE on working relationships and way forward. Testimonials from beneficiaries were also presented on the event.
Based on Hotspot Ethiopia report April 2023, a recent and significant trend has been the forced return of Ethiopians from the Gulf countries. Between January and October 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) registered over 100,000 Ethiopian returnees. The majority (71%) came from the KSA. The number of migrants forcibly returned from the KSA since 2017 has now reached half a million. The IOM reported that approximately one-third of all returnees from the KSA originate from areas devastated by the Tigray conflict.
According to a large scale study on exploitative working conditions for child domestic workers in Ethiopia, findings from the study on the prevalence of child domestic workers in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, where 37% of the girls in the study sites were engaged as domestic workers, shows those surveyed worked 55 hours per week, 31% typically worked before 6 AM or after 10 PM, 40% worked every day with no rest day during the week and 27% worked on public holidays. Domestic work is considered ‘personal service’ and therefore not covered under the current Ethiopian labor proclamation No. 1156/2019.
Regarding capacity building, The EFF remained an active member of the national partnership coalition on migration at the federal level. It partners successfully, engaged government in improving the migration system, hence one of its partners (EDA) secured government buy-in for new policies that improve pre-departure processes for prospective migrants. The EFF also acts on fighting human trafficking and children domestic workers that resulted in an increased number of children referred to services and rescued from situations of exploitation according to the report.
As part of its support for strengthening overseas employment and migration services, the EFF provides training for migration services, works on monitoring and legal enforcement, support community organizations such as survivor-led organizations and domestic workers’ groups for both overseas and local in building their capacity; as New Business Ethiopia learned from the report.
Freedom Fund Ethiopia was launched in partnership with Ethiopian government in July 2015. The program complements existing efforts to reduce the vulnerability of potential migrants, returnee women and girls to trafficking to the Middle East for domestic work. The hotspot strategy focuses on improving livelihoods and enabling a better understanding and practice of safe migration.