In the Horn of Africa, labor migration is taking on a new dimension. Faced with hundreds of thousands of often perilous departures, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is calling for a more human and safer regulation of migration. In Nairobi, the ministers of Labor and Interior from the member states issued a strong appeal: to make migration an opportunity, not a tragedy.
Gathered on October 20 to October 22, 2025, in Nairobi, the eight IGAD member states held their third ministerial conference on labour, employment, and migration.At the heart of the discussions was a key question: how to transform migration often endured into a driver of regional development? In recent years, the region has experienced a surge in migratory flows. Faced with this alarming reality, IGAD is calling for a coordinated approach. The organization is proposing the establishment of a regional single visa, an initiative inspired by other regional blocs, to facilitate legal mobility and reduce the risks associated with irregular migration.
“We are proposing also to our ministers a single visa regime that is not new for the world, that will not affect any of the security and sovereignty of the member states, but to facilitate effective and efficient visas for a liberal movement. ”
Workney GEBEYEHU, Executive Secretary – IGAD – Ethiopia
This initiative is part of a broader vision: that of free movement of people and workers across the Horn of Africa. The goal is clear: to regulate, protect, and enhance labor migration, turning it into a genuine lever for regional integration and shared growth. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 230,000 migrants have taken, just in 2025, the Red Sea route toward the Arabian Peninsula, a journey that is often deadly.
“ Given the numbers for this year, In the first eight months of this year, we have 230,000 migrants who took this dangerous journey. Many of them went through smuggling and trafficking networks, many of them went on foot, they worked for days and days, and then they took boats in the Red Sea. And again, in the first eight months of this year, we have more than 600 people who are either dead or missing, and we know that this number is likely to be higher because there is underreporting in those numbers”
Nihan ERDOGAN, Deputy Regional Director for Operations of the IOM – Turkey
While migration routes continue to claim lives, IGAD intends to chart a different path: one of regulated human mobility that respects fundamental rights. An ambitious undertaking, certainly, but an essential one: to transform migration into hope rather than tragedy.
