Literature Review
The conflict and refugee experience relates the conflicts within the Horn of Africa with the movements of the displaced people and the way governments respond to their needs. The outcome of the conflict is represented in the refugee movements across borders and the statistics of the displaced people. Different causes do exist for this phenomena as, peacekeeping forces, inter-clan fighting, cease-fires and religious conflicts (Hodgson et al. 2014). The migration and admixture movements was accelerated due to the increasing international trade, which included the trade of slaves in the colonial era.
The Horn of Africa (HOA) has long faced the problem of slave trade, the colonial experiences and the centralized control over the resources. During the Cold War, the region was treated as a central battlefront. Since the 1990 the number of states of the HOA was increased from four to seven countries including the Somaliland (De Waal 2015). As the migration movements from the HOR has increased, the Khartoum Process was established to create a dialogue between the African Union (AU) and EU-led components. It focuses on the gender and human rights and the protection of victims (IOM 2017a). The following sections discuss the research activities related to the Khartoum process, the research objectives and methodology, current work and preliminary results, the work plan and conclusions.
Since 2012, the EU strategy towards the eradication of people trafficking was adopted. The strategy includes the protection, support of the victims, the prevention of the traffickers (IOM 2017a). Also, a joint European investigation team was created to prosecute the cases of cross-border trafficking.
The Khartoum Process is a political initiative. It is considered as a regional dialogue that takes place within the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM) and the EU migration policy framework. It builds on the AU Regional Conference on human trafficking and smuggling in the HOF which was held in 2014 (Khartoum Process 2014). Accordingly, it encourages the opportunities of partnership through planning and implementing concrete projects. The Khartoum Process was developed upon the EU-Africa Action Plan on Migration and Mobility 2014-2017. According to IOM (2017a), the process main purposes are as follows:
- To create a framework for the adopted policy and dialogue.
- Knowledge sharing among participants to strengthen the cooperation supported by the international organizations, including, IOM and the UNHCR.
- Getting funds and facilitating resource mobilization to support the migrants.
In 2015, the Khartoum Process was nominated to monitor the implementation of the action Valletta plan during 2016-2018 (Martín & Bonfanti 2015). According to IOM (2017a), the number of participating states is 39, the current chair is Ethiopia and the observer institutions are African Union Commission, European Commission, European External Action Service, International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Most of the migrant of the HOM are refugees who apply for asylum, according to the UNHCR as cited in Ciabarri (2014), half of the migrants to Italy in 2007 could obtain their refugee status and subsidiary protection. The immigrants from the HOA who have reached Lampedusa, represented about 13% of the irregular immigration.
The Informal Working Group (iLWG), was created to monitor and accelerate the required actions towards the eradication of the immigration movements from the HOA to the EU countries. According to the Khartoum Process (2016a), the 1st iLWG, was held in Paris in 2016 to discuss the following issues:
- Mapping of the projects under the Khartoum Process and the Valletta Action Plan.
- Monitoring the progress of EU projects, including the better migration management (BBM).
- To stress on the demand of the ‘whole of region’ approach to BBM, including North of Africa.
- Ensuring of the consistency of the BBM and EU projects with the international projects within the region.
- Managing the training needs in the member countries.
- Managing meetings on legal migration and processes to reintegrate the role of National Focal Points and of communication.
The establishment of the Khartoum Process
The 2nd meeting, took place in Rome in 2016. The participants implemented concrete initiatives to push the Khartoum Process forward. They could identify and match the needs of the HOA route through reviewing, evaluating and adjusting the current and proposed projects outcomes. Also, they agreed on a concrete plan of activities to be implemented during the second half of 2016. According to the Khartoum Process (2016b), the issues discussed within the 2nd meeting were as follows:
- Critically analyze the results of the first meeting to evaluate its outcomes.
- Assessing the role of the Regional Operational Centre, which was proposed to manage the information sharing process concerning the human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.
- Monitoring the ongoing projects, including the BBM and Addressing Mixed Migration Flows’ (MMF).
- Linking the activities of the Regional Development and Protection Programs (RDPP) with the broader global agenda on protection and protracted displacement.
The declaration aims to provide protection to the refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers in accordance with the international law. The majority of migrants are from Ethiopia and Somalia (IOM 2017b). The declaration has highlighted the importance of the factors that cause the irregular and mixed migration flows from Africa to Europe. The declaration also highlighted the importance of the sustainable development of African countries and to be aligned with the global development plans. According to Italian Presidency Council of the European Union (2014), the declaration focuses on the importance of cooperation and knowledge sharing among the members of Khartoum Process. The declared areas of cooperation are as follows:
- Cooperation development among the participating countries in the form of bilateral and regional cooperation. Countries include the origin, transit and destination to enable the surveilling committee to monitor and tackle the irregular migration and the criminal networks.
- Providing the required assistance in all of the migration management components with regard to the individual requests of the countries within the HOA.
- Providing the assistance to the national authorities in disseminating information campaigns that aim at improving people’s awareness about the risks associated with irregular migration. Also, the importance of the trafficking in people and smuggling of migrants.
- Strengthen on the importance of establishing national strategies to ensure the horizontal coordination among the services involved in the trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants.
- Highlighting the importance of enhancing national law enforcement agencies and the response of the judicial systems to set up measures to prevent money laundering and corruption.
- Promoting for the victim-centered approach to support the victims of trafficking and protecting the human rights.
The IOM argues that the conflict is due to the governance crisis rather than a migration crisis. The conflict exists in the current perspective of the political will that needs to manage the migration more effectively in Europe (The Economist Intelligence Unit 2016). As people will continue to cross the borders, which requires a new strategic approach by the EU countries through saving lives, improving safety conditions and creating an open platform to discuss the issue of mixed migration flows through good governance (khartoum-process 2015). These three issues could be discussed according to Wolff (2015), as follows:
- Saving lives:Through providing help and assistance to people in the sea to stop their deaths. Malta and Italy, are the main countries of destination opposed this idea, as they refuse the idea that the host country should be the point of disembarkation.
- Ensuring safe ways to Europe: The countries of destination have to ensure multiple safe channels for the migrants and refugees. This could be done through ensuring more legal migration channels to reduce the number of deaths in the sea and decrease the growth of the smuggling networks.
- Establishing a standard and mixed migration movements to regulate the direct and transit migration flows.
Research objectives:
The main objectives of this research could be addressed as follows:
- To investigate the progress in the Khartoum Process, which manages the dialogue between the EU and the Horn of Africa regarding the migration flows.
- To analyse the current and future role of the member countries and the tools they use toeradicate the human smuggling.
- To realize the achievements of the projects implemented within the Khartoum Process.
- To investigate the EU countries’ direction towards the governance of irregular migration.
Refereeing to the project aims, the research methodology will declare the methods of achieving the research objectives. The philosophical paradigm of this research follows the positivism paradigm. Accurate knowledge is provided and unambiguity is assured within the positivism philosophy, as it follows the natural science philosophy (Saunders et al., 2009). It assumes that the analysis of the research will be done in a passive way and the researcher role will be neutral (Keele 2012). The cultural aspects, beliefs and values would not affect the research as objectivity is required (Schlegel 2015). The researcher will use the existing conditions in the irregular migration and human being smuggling from the HOA to the EU countries to measure the progress in the current project implemented by the Khartoum process and fill the research gab of the continuity of the irregular immigration flows and human being smuggling from the HOA to the EU countries the international efforts to regulate the irregular immigration and eradicate human smuggling.
The current work and results that could be achieved through this research are represented as follows:
- The Khartoum Process initiative has concentrated in its first phase on addressing the trafficking of migrants and smuggling of human beings.
- Cooperation could be established between the countries to eradicate the irregular migration and criminal networks.
- Knowledge sharing and best practices could be shared among the member countries.
- The member countries are enabled to implement prevention measures.
- The frameworks of the criminal law are set and regional facilities to return the migrants are managed.
- Support is introduced to the victims of irregular migrations.
- Initiatives to support the sustainable development within the member countries took place.
Conclusions
The migration and admixture movements was accelerated due to the increasing international trade, which included the trade of slaves in the colonial era. The Khartoum Process was established in 2014 to encourage the opportunities of partnership through planning and implementing concrete projects among the EU and the HOA countries.
Most of the migrant of the HOM are refugees who apply for asylum, half of the migrants to Italy in 2007 could obtain their refugee status and subsidiary protection. The Informal Working Group (iLWG), was created to monitor and accelerate the required actions towards the eradication of the immigration movements from the HOA to the EU countries.
As people will continue to cross the borders, which requires a new strategic approach by the EU countries through saving lives, improving safety conditions and creating an open platform to discuss the issue of mixed migration flows through good governance.
References
Ciabarri, L 2014, ‘Dynamics and representations of migration corridors: The rise and fall of the Libya-Lampedusa route and forms of mobility from the Horn of Africa (2000-2009)’, ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, vol 13, no. 2, pp. 246-262.
De Waal, A 2015, The real politics of the Horn of Africa, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Hodgson, J, Mulligan, C, Meeri, A & Raaum, R 2014, ‘Early back-to-Africa migration into the Horn of Africa’, PLOS Genetics, vol 10, no. 6, pp. 1-18.
IOM 2017a, EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative (Khartoum Process), viewed 08 December 2017, <https://www.iom.int/eu-horn-africa-migration-route-initiative-khartoum-process>.
IOM 2017b, ‘World migration report 2018’.
Italian Presidency Council of the European Union 2014, Declaration of the ministerial conference of the Khartoum process, viewed 08 December 2017, <https://italia2014.eu/en/>.
Keele, R 2012, ‘Quantitative versus qualitative research or both’, in Nursing research and evidence-based practice, Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Khartoum Process 2014, A regional dialogue on trafficking and human smuggling, viewed 02 December 2017, <www.khartoumprocess.net>.
khartoum Process 2016, 2nd Informal Working Group (iLWG) in Rome, viewed 08 December 2017, <https://www.khartoumprocess.net/news-and-events/news/26-2nd-informal-working-group-ilwg-meeting-rome-8-july-2016>.
khartoum Process 2016a, 1st Informal Working Group (iLWG) in Paris, 25 February 2016, viewed 08 December 2017, <https://www.khartoumprocess.net/news-and-events/news/12-1st-informal-working-group-ilwg-paris-25-february-2016>.
khartoum Process 2016b, 2nd Informal Working Group (iLWG) in Rome, viewed 08 December 2017, <https://www.khartoumprocess.net/news-and-events/news/26-2nd-informal-working-group-ilwg-meeting-rome-8-july-2016>.
khartoum-process 2015, ‘Valletta summit action plan’, Valletta Summit on Migration.
Martín, I & Bonfanti, S 2015, ‘Migration and asylum challenges in Eastern Africa: Mixed migration flows require dual policy approaches’, European University Institute.
Saunders, M, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2009, ‘Understanding research philosophies and approaches’, in Research Methods for Business Students, 4th edn.
Schlegel, D 2015, ‘Research philosophy and ethics’, in Cost-of-capital in managerial finance, contributions to management, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland.
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2016, ‘Measuring well-governed migration: The 2016 migration governance index’, London.
Wolff, S 2015, ‘Migration and refugee governance in the Mediterranean: Europe and international organisations at a crossroads’, University of London, UK.
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