Coastguards from Somalia’s Puntland, Yemen and Djibouti will
benefit from an innovative IOM training programme to equip them
with the necessary skills to protect and assist irregular migrants
and asylum-seekers travelling at great risk through Somaliland,
Puntland and Djibouti en route to Yemen.

The Japanese-funded initiative will provide 60 coastguards with
comprehensive training on rescue-at-sea, on the rights of migrants
and on the needs of particularly vulnerable groups such as victims
of trafficking.

In addition, the programme will provide coast guards with much
needed life-saving kits, life jackets, buoys, torches and emergency
blankets to enhance their response at sea.

"The continuing lack of adequate search and rescue facilities
makes it difficult for coast guards in the Gulf of Aden to rescue
people in distress. IOM hopes that the training and the provision
of equipment will improve both the emergency assistance to migrants
and the protection afforded them", says Odile Robert, IOM’s
Mixed Migration Officer in Djibouti.

The two-day-trainings will take place for Puntland and Djibouti
coastguards between 27-28 November in Djibouti and between 10-11
December for their counterparts in Yemen.

Every year, tens of thousands of mainly Ethiopian and Somali
migrants and asylum-seekers make the hazardous journey from their
place of origin across the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden to
Yemen and beyond. These individuals, driven by political unrest and
extreme poverty face not only dangers at sea but also physical
risks, harassment and discrimination during their journey on
land.

This workshop is part of a broader IOM programme to strengthen
the protection of, and emergency assistance to, irregular migrants
and asylum-seekers from Somalia and Ethiopia travelling through the
region.

For more information contact:

Odile Robert

IOM Djibouti

Tel: +41 79 637 10 56

E-mail: "mailto:orobert@iom.int">orobert@iom.int