Missing Migrants Project

Since 2014, the IOM Missing Migrants Project (MMP), coordinated by the IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, has collected and analyzed data on people who lose their lives or disappear during migration in the East and Horn of Africa and around the world. Today, the project hosts the only existing open-access database on migrant deaths and has become the global reference point on risks faced by people on the move.

Documenting migrant deaths is a significant step toward realizing safer, more orderly migration and safeguarding people from abuse while on the move. In 2021, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights passed the Resolution on Missing Migrants and Refugees in Africa and the Impact on their Families. The resolution encourages States to take action to prevent further migrant deaths and disappearances, notably by reviewing existing policies that infringe on migrants’ rights and enable disappearances; coordinate mechanisms to identify the bodies of the deceased; and strengthen data standards, in line with the African Charter, the African Union Migration Policy Framework and Plan of Action and other international legal instruments.

MMP data are used as indicator 10.7.3 for Sustainable Development Goal 10.7, which calls on States to “facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration.” In addition, many countries have also committed to “save lives and establish coordinated international efforts on missing migrants” under Objective 8 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Within IOM, the need for better data on missing migrants is stressed in the organization’s Strategic Vision for 2019-2023 and its Migration Data Strategy.

In the East and Horn of Africa, most recorded deaths occur on the Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. This route is fraught with danger as people regularly journey across the Gulf of Aden via overcrowded and unseaworthy boats; drownings by shipwreck are frequent, and many more shipwrecks are likely to go unrecorded where no survivors are identified, nor bodies recovered. Additionally, people travelling this route transit through vast unmonitored areas, such as the harsh terrain of the Djiboutian desert, where many have lost their lives due to lack of access to food, water or to medical care. The Southern Route, from the Horn to Southern Africa, likewise sees people lose their lives during migration. People on this route can perish from asphyxiation in sealed transport containers; difficult terrain without access to food or water; or hardship, abuse, or abandonment by smugglers. Additionally, due to the many border crossings that the Southern Route involves, detention is common, and people may disappear while deprived of liberty.

Beyond migration routes within the East and Horn of Africa, many nationals of this region are believed to die abroad. A 2021 study conducted by the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency with IOM’s support estimated that 51,000 Ethiopian nationals have disappeared after emigration from that country alone.

The deaths of most people in this region who lose their lives while migrating are reported through news media (when the magnitude of the calamity captures journalists’ attention) or through informants in areas where IOM has an operational presence. Therefore, efforts to better capture incidents, strengthen data on missing migrants, and ultimately prevent the loss of life while on the move are paramount. To this end, the IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, in coordination with the IOM Regional Office in the East and Horn of Africa, is pursuing the following multipronged approach:

1. Collection, analysis and communication of data documenting migrant deaths and disappearances
2. Capacity building with internal and external actors on migrant deaths and disappearances
3. Research on families of missing migrants and relevant policy and practice