Interrogating the Inter-Linkage Between Ethiopian Migration Policies and Irregular Migration

Abstract

The chapter analyses the evolution of Ethiopia’s migration-related legal instruments and their contexts and assumptions on the one hand and how human traffickers and employment agencies devise creative methods to circumvent and bypass the existing laws on the other hand. It argues that despite the enactment of various polices and proclamations to limit it, the practice of irregular migration has been increasing, not declining. It also argues that absence of legal overseas employment opportunities (2014-2018) from the Ethiopian side has exacerbated irregular migration and its associated ordeal of individuals at the hands of smugglers and traffickers.