Khartoum – IOM facilitated a charter flight from Tripoli to Khartoum International Airport for 170 stranded Sudanese migrants who voluntarily requested to return to their home, Sudan. The return was facilitated by IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programme, which provides durable solutions for stranded migrants, migrants in an irregular situation, victims of trafficking, and unsuccessful asylum seekers worldwide. This group is the largest of its kind since IOM Sudan started its AVRR programming in 2005.

In coordination between IOM offices in Libya and Sudan, a reintegration package is available under the EU Trust Fund – reintegration facility that is implemented by IOM Sudan. The package includes: reception upon arrival, transportation to areas of return; socio-economic reintegration support based on their needs.

The voluntary return of these migrants was done in close partnership with the Government of Sudan through the Secretariat of Sudanese Working Abroad (SSWA), the government institution mandated to coordinate the reintegration efforts for returning Sudanese migrants, an essential counterpart for the IOM’s AVRR programming in Sudan. The national committee on returnees’ reintegration that comprises different socio-economic ministries and chaired by the General-Secretary of SSWA is a platform that offers updated information on returnees and the various types of assistance by IOM and other actors that would be available to returnees. IOM is currently the only agency working on migrants’ AVRR in Sudan and is normally invited whenever the government committee meets.

In 2016- 2017, IOM Sudan helped 347 Sudanese from 16 countries to voluntarily return home. Over half of them (209) came from Egypt. While the remaining 138 have returned from Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.