Strengthening NHRI Collaboration to Protect Migrants’ Rights Along the Southern Corridor: Follow-Up Virtual Session- Towards a Joint Advocacy Platform

 The meeting, organized by FES-AMPC and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), brought together NHRIs from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, alongside Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), IGAD, the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), UNDP, and other partners. The dialogue focused on strengthening collaboration between NHRIs and key stakeholders to advance a human-rights-centered approach to migration governance along the Southern Corridor. Participants also reaffirmed the central role of NHRIs in monitoring abuses, documenting violations, advising governments, and shaping rights-based migration governance across the region. Attendees agreed to establish an NHRI collaboration platform that would be the basis for joint work on advocacy. 

Discussions highlighted that migrants travelling along the Southern Corridor face severe and persistent human rights violations, including exploitation, trafficking, arbitrary detention, violence, and discrimination. Access to services and protection remains extremely limited, while the rising securitization of migration continues to push migrants towards more dangerous routes. NHRIs are perfectly positioned to increase the protection of migrants in vulnerable situations. Zambia and Kenya NHRIs shared practical examples of using their complaint mechanisms to intervene in arbitrary detention cases, improve detention conditions, support investigations into trafficking and smuggling, and coordinate repatriation. 

Presenters also encouraged NHRIs to leverage existing regional networks, such as IGAD and NANHRI, and in expanding collaboration to include NHRIs from the East African Community and SADC regions to increase human rights centered response to migration challenges. As well as, utilizing AU and UN mechanisms, including the Migration Policy Framework for Africa and the Global Compact on Migration, and to advise and influence government policies.

This webinar was a follow-up to a meeting held in Malawi by FES-AMPC in collaboration with the Malawi Human Rights Commission and EHRC, in which participants agreed to continue strengthening cooperation among NHRIs. It reiterated the importance of collaboration for sustained and effective advocacy.