Comoros

The IOM Comoros office was established in 2018 to support the Government of the Union of Comoros in ensuring safe, orderly and regular migration through the provision of capacity building, advisory, operational support, and technical expertise.

Positioned strategically in the Mozambique canal with a mere 70-kilometer maritime passage to Mayotte, the Union of Comoros is a pivotal point in the migration route from the continent to Mayotte —a perilous journey embarked upon by thousands of men, women, and children in search of a better life. The country faces unique challenges and opportunities linked to migration and has increasingly become a transit as well as destination country. Since 2020, a growing number of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have become stranded in Comoros, enroute to Mayotte According to IOM’s recent report, ‘’Pilot Study on the Southern Migration Route and Access to Protection Services”, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees from diverse countries, predominantly from the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa, travel together with the aid of smugglers and traffickers, facing exploitation along their journeys.

IOM Comoros has implemented programs in the fields of voluntary return and reintegration of vulnerable Comorian migrants, migration and health, international migration law, counter-trafficking, immigration and border management, voluntary return and reintegration of stranded migrants, migration policy, and diaspora engagement.

Comoros was admitted as an IOM Member State on 5 December 2011. IOM Comoros is part of IOM Mission of Madagascar and Comoros and comes under the purview of the IOM Regional Office for East, Horn and Southern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.

 IOM's activities in Comoros are covered by the IOM Country office in Moroni, Comoros.
 

Migrant protection and assistance

• Since 2017, IOM Comoros has assisted more than 200 voluntary return and reintegration of Comorians from Libya, Egypt, Niger and Sudan in their communities. Since 2021, IOM Comoros has assisted stranded, vulnerable migrants in Comoros with protection support and assisted voluntary return and reintegration in their communities of origin, the vast majority coming from west and central Africa.
• In addition, since 2020, IOM Comoros strengthens the capacity of the government and national stakeholders in counter trafficking to ensure effective, evidence-based counter trafficking policies and better coordination on victims’ identification, investigation, and prosecution of trafficking offenders. This resulted in the country moving from Tier 3 to Tier 2, thanks to IOM support. IOM Comoros works closely with the Ministry of Interior through the National Brigade for the fight against Trafficking in Persons.
   

Immigration and border management

• Effective and efficient border management are essential to ensure border security, strengthen the fight against transnational organized crime, and improve the protection of vulnerable migrants. IOM works with the Ministry of Interior and other key border agencies to build the capacity of frontline officers and to further streamline, coordinate and integrate border management risk assessments and controls. 
• IOM Comoros contribute to an improved response to irregular migration across the Mozambique Channel through cooperation on migration governance between the United Republic of Tanzania and the Union of Comoros. 
   

Migration governance 

• Since 2018, IOM Comoros works closely with the Ministry of Interior to support the government to strengthen and develop migration governance and migration policies. The Multi-Sectoral Commission for Monitoring and Orientation on Migration Issues in Comoros was created in 2018 at the initiative of the Ministry of Interior, in collaboration with IOM to provides inter-ministerial coordination on migration issues and is responsible for collecting and analyzing all migration-related laws and decrees to make recommendations to the government and, ultimately, to design a national migration policy framework.
• IOM has supported the Migration Governance Indicators process in 2021 and in 2022 provided capacity building and support in the development of an action plan for the elaboration of the first national migration policy.

Migration initiatives

In 2020, IOM Comoros will continue to engage with the Government, stakeholders, migrants, civil society and the media on a range of initiatives implemented towards ensuring migration management policies and practices that enable safe, orderly and regular migration to, from and within the country. These initiatives will include the following:

• Support migrants returning to Comoros from various destination and transit countries to reintegrate sustainably within their communities.
• Support stakeholders including civil society and the media in preventing risky migration behaviours.
• Develop the operational capacities of border management stakeholders and enforce the concepts of IBM in the administrative and operational context of border management.
• Promote the active engagement of the Comorian diaspora to sustainable development of the country, including through institutional capacity building and diaspora outreach activities.

Partners

• US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TiP)
• IOM Development Fund (IDF)

 

Career Opportunities

Being a member of the IOM team requires the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity. As an international organization with a global mandate, IOM also aims to maintain an equitable geographical balance among its staff. As such, its recruitment efforts target, but are not necessarily limited to, nationals of its Member States. IOM is an equal opportunity employer and seeks committed professionals with a wide variety of skills in the field of migration. IOM staff work in multi-cultural environments, in which diversity and cultural sensitivity are valued.


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Contact information

For information on IOM activities in Comoros, contact the IOM Country Office

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Maison des Nations Unies
Hamramba Moroni
Union des Comores
BP: 648, Moroni - Comores

Email: iomcomoros@iom.int