Better Migration Management (BMM) III Programme

Training on forensic investigation and cybercrime strengthen capacity to prosecute cases of human trafficking © GIZ/Light in Captivity

Introduction

The BMM programme works on improving infrastructure, legal frameworks and know-how to make migration safe and legal and protect people on the move in the Horn of Africa using a regional approach.

Migration within, from, and to the region has been fuelled by political unrest, persecution, conflict, as well as extreme resource scarcity and environmental factors. People often rely on smugglers who can easily target vulnerable groups, like women, unaccompanied children, and refugees. SoM and certain THB networks in the region are highly organised. Regional structures or mechanisms to combat these networks and improve the management of migration are extremely uneven. Public sector officials working on these issues need capacity building on a gender-responsive, rights-based approach.

The scale and complexity of migration-relatedissues in the Horn of Africa requires effective, coordinated, and harmonised action at the national and regional levels.

The BMM III programme covers eight countries: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda (Egypt, Libya, Chad, and Tunisia are included in regional activities).

It is implemented by GIZ and partners (IOM,UNODC,CIVIPOL and British Council) in all countries but Sudan. In Sudan, the IOM is the lead implementation partner. It works alongside the UNODC, CIVIPOL and British Council.

Scope and objectives

BMM III is articulated around three components:

Strengthening regional migration governance in accordance with the global and regional frameworks alongside national policy makers and mandated regional organisations;
Increasing national and cross-border cooperation on trafficking and smuggling cases between actors involved in investigation, prosecution, courts, and other state and non-state actors in accordance with international standards;
Improving vulnerable migrants’ access to protection at the local, national, and regional level, ensuring appropriate assistance and support for victims of trafficking, taking into account specific gendered experiences of migration and the vulnerability of women and children.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) offer services such as accommodation, food and medical and psychosocial support to migrants in need.

About the project

Since 2015, the fight against THB and SoM have been high on the EU agenda as two of the main EU-Africa migration management cooperation areas. BMM is part of and contributes to the Team Europe Initiative on the Central Mediterranean Migration Route, covering Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Providing a strong European response to migrant smuggling inside and outside the EU is an essential part of the comprehensive approach to migration, set out in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Pact also highlights the importance of the early identification of potential non-EU victims of trafficking in human beings. In 2021, the Commission has adopted a renewed EU action plan against migrant smuggling as well as a new Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings, both covering the period 2021-2025.

Related projects

The first three phases of the Better Migration Management (BMM) program (BMM I: 2016-2019, BMM II: 2019-2022, BMM III: 2022-2025) highlighted the positive role that BMM has played in improving migration management in the Horn of Africa (HoA). Throughout all three phases, the programme supported the establishment and capacity-building of National Coordination Mechanisms for Migration (NCMs), promoting a whole-of-government approach through capacity development and strengthening local structures. It also supported a human rights-based approach to investigating and prosecuting cases of trafficking in human beings (THB) and smuggling of migrants (SoM).

Since BMM I, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to improve police-prosecutor cooperation were developed, implemented (BMM II), and monitored by local task forces (BMM III). The victim-centred approach in court proceedings was enhanced through Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in Ethiopia and Uganda, which were applied in a total of 207 cases during BMM III.

Implementing Partners

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as lead implementing partner, together with British Council (BC), Société de conseil et de service du Ministère de l'Intérieur (CIVIPOL), International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Funding instrument

NDICI – Global Europe