Somalia – Amara* and Aisha*, aged 16 and 15 respectively, are from Harar in eastern Ethiopia. The two friends lived in the same part of the city, and were students at the same school, before they set off together on a journey that would change their lives.
A neighbour, Tigist*, had a sister who was financially successful in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After securing a job, Tigist’s sister – like many migrants who travel from Ethiopia to the Gulf States in search of better economic opportunities – sent money back home, lifting the family out of poverty and even building a new house for their mother in Harar.
This story ignited dreams in Amara and Aisha’s minds; the teenagers saw this as a way to escape the extreme poverty in their hometown.
“We decided to go to Saudi Arabia, via Somalia and then Yemen, to find a better future for ourselves and our families,” said Aisha.
Tigist connected the young girls with a local smuggler who arranged their travel and sent them to a smuggler camp in Tog Wajaale, a border city between Somaliland and Ethiopia. The smuggler promised to guide them along the treacherous Eastern Migration Route, which runs from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and has long been one of the busiest migratory corridors on the continent.
“[The smuggler] told us that we would not pay anything until we reached Saudi Arabia. He said he would find a household where we could work as maids, to pay him back gradually,” recalled Aisha. “He promised he would find houses for both of us that would be close to each other so we wouldn’t be separated in Saudi Arabia.”
Young Ethiopian migrants walking on the main road between Garowe and Qardho, heading to Bossaso, Somalia. Photo: IOM/Said Fadhaye 2024
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of children from Ethiopia travelling along the Eastern Route through Somalia is rising at an alarming rate. By June 2024, the number of children registered by IOM Somalia’s Migration Response Centres (MRCs) had doubled compared to the first half of the previous year. Many of these children leave home without any information about the journey ahead; most are completely unaware that they will have to cross a sea or pass through conflict zones to reach their intended destinations.
Amara and Aisha’s journey continued in Guumays, a village in the Sool region of Somalia. Here, another smuggler waited to take them out of the country as part of a bigger group of migrants, promising a semblance of safety for those who could pay the full amounts demanded for each person.
It wasn’t long before the girls learned of the nightmare they had stepped into.
Upon reaching the village of Guumays, the smugglers demanded a ransom of 30,000 Ethiopian birr (USD 520) from Amara and Aisha’s families, threatening them with torture and death if the money was not paid. Aisha's family struggled to raise the money, and she was forced to endure a month-long stay in the smugglers’ camp, separated from Amara who was taken onward to Bossaso.
“Only after my father sold a cow, and sent the money for ransom, was I able to continue,” recalled Aisha.
Bossaso, on the northern coast of Somalia, is a key stop for migrants attempting to leave the Horn of Africa via the Red Sea. After reaching the city, Aisha regained hope, especially after reuniting with Amara – but the joy of reuniting was short-lived. The extortion did not stop as the smugglers demanded more money, subjecting the girls to physical abuse, starvation and constant threats until their families paid up.
Desperate and terrified, the girls escaped the smugglers in Bossaso and found refuge at the Bossaso MRC after learning about the centre from community members.
Run by IOM, the MRC in Bossaso is one of two such centres in Somalia that provide immediate, life-saving support to migrants in vulnerable situations like Amara and Aisha. This includes the provision of shelter, medical care and psychosocial counselling, as well as assisted voluntary return to migrants’ home countries.
Young migrants at a safe house where they were referred by the Bossaso MRC after enrolling for voluntary return support. Photo: IOM/Ismail Salad Osman 2024
So far this year, IOM Somalia had registered over 5,000 migrants at the MRC, marking an 85 per cent increase compared to the first half of the previous year. Among them, 1,782 were children – 35 per cent unaccompanied by either a parent or guardian. This represented a staggering 100 per cent increase in the number of children registered at the centre compared to the same period in 2023. These children, especially the girls, face heightened risks of abuse and exploitation by smugglers on their journeys along the Eastern Migration Route.
Like Amara and Aisha, the script is the same for many other children at the MRC – stranded in Somalia and lured by the promise of a better life across the Red Sea. Among them was 15-year-old Abdirizak* who shared his own harrowing story.
Abdirizak and his friend Ahmed* fell into the hands of traffickers in Las’anod, a city in northern Somalia that is grappling with conflict. The two boys were tortured, and Ahmed succumbed to his injuries.
"I had to bury my friend," Abdirizak said, tears welling up in his eyes.
According to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 698 migrants went missing on the Eastern Migration Route in 2023; the actual number of fatalities is likely higher, as many tragedies go unreported. These missing migrants all embarked on the journey with the same hopes and dreams, but just like Ahmed, they either fell victim to smugglers, got caught in conflicts, or died at sea, never to be heard from again.
Migrants receive support from IOM to return to their home countries after registering with the IOM Migration Response Centres in Somalia. Photo: IOM/Ismail Salad Osman 2024
From the MRC, Abdirizak was taken to a safe house and provided with protection services, shelter, psychosocial support, medical assistance, and food as he waited along with many others to be assisted through IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return programme. In 2024, IOM has supported the voluntary return of 148 migrants to their homes, of which 63 per cent were children.
By the end of June 2024, IOM had assisted 148 migrants, including Amara, Aisha, and Abdirizak, return to Ethiopia. The return programme, and IOM Somalia’s work in the MRCs, are funded by the US Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM); the Government of France; and the Kingdom of Norway. They are coordinated with Puntland's Ministry of the Interior, the Ethiopian Consulate in Somalia, and Puntland’s Ministry of Women and Family Development.
*Names have been changed to protect identities.
Written by Ismail Salad Osman.
