Responding to the Humanitarian Needs of Vulnerable Ethiopian Deportees and Returnees and Contributing to Mitigating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Quarantine Facilities The proposed intervention will provide integrated and comprehensive life-saving humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Ethiopian deportees/returnees from neighboring countries or Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc.). The project will mainly focus on WASH, Health, NFI and protection interventions, and will directly contribute to the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan.
Since the week of 20 April 2020, IOM has been entrusted with the co-management of quarantine facilities in the country, together with the Ministry of Peace. The project shall be managed through the newly established quarantine center management structure and the Emergency Coordination Cell (ECC) under the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC). 

The outbreak of COVID-19 in the region and in prominent regions of destination for mixed migration from Ethiopia has led to mass deportations of vulnerable Ethiopian irregular migrants. IOM also observed spontaneous return movements of Ethiopian migrants due to the outbreak of COVID-19. IOM estimates that since the end of March 2020, more than 19,000 have been deported/returned and subsequently quarantined in the designated quarantine centers. Among the returns recorded so far, 72 percent were by land transportation at the country’s points of entry (POEs) and 28 percent of the returnees were by air, mostly from Gulf countries. Among the land returns, 34.5 percent were from Sudan, 32 percent from Djibouti, 28.5 percent from Somalia, and 5 percent from Kenya. In some instances, large groups of returnees such as Ethiopian seasonal workers in Sudan were allowed by the GoE to return to their areas of origin without being quarantined due to lack of government capacity for quarantine of large groups. These places communities of return at risk of experiencing community spread of the virus. Additionally, among the caseloads of returnees are significant numbers of children, including unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) (10-15% dependent on location), who require specific protection services and set-up at quarantine facilities, which for the moment, do not provide sufficient levels of protection for the most vulnerable returnees, particularly outside of Addis Ababa.

Since the enactment of mandatory quarantine for all incoming passengers, IOM has received a large number of government requests for support geared towards improving conditions and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in quarantine centres. Quarantine centres lack adequate WASH, health and accommodation facilities, and staff to effectively accommodate returnees and prevent the spread of the disease. Regional governments are also lacking means to provide quarantined persons with adequate NFIs, healthcare, health screening, and in some instances, food and onward transportation support. In addition, quarantine centres are short of capacities to ensure social distancing and hygiene measures are enforced on their premises. 

Primary target locations for the response include the main Points of Entry (PoE) for deportees and returnees from Ethiopia’s neighboring countries, including Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. The intervention will also, to a lesser extent, target Addis Ababa which is the main PoE for extra-regional deportations (mainly from Saudi Arabia). The main PoEs include Metema, Gambella, Dewele/Dire Dawa, Togwachale/Jijiga, and Moyale. The following interventions will be carried out and will build the capacity of six quarantine centres and will directly reach out to 10,000 individuals (caseloads expected to pass through the six targeted quarantine centres).