African States and partners have called for stronger, coordinated action to prevent migrant deaths and address disappearances along migration routes, following a three-day technical consultation in Cairo held in line with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).
The consultation produced a recommendation note consolidating African operational priorities, good practices, and areas for cooperation aligned with the GCM and the UN Secretary-General's 2024 recommendations . The note is designed to directly support African Member States' reporting and discussions at the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF 2026) to be held from 5-8 May 2026 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, ensuring that the lived realities of migrants and their families on the continent are reflected in global commitments.
The consultation was convened by the United Nations Network on Migration and co-organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), with the support of the Continental UN Network on Migration for Africa.
Across the world, over 82,000 migrant deaths and disappearances have been recorded since 2014, including 18,866 in Africa, according to IOM's Missing Migrants Project. However large, these figures only show a sliver of the crisis; the true scale is believed to be much larger.
According to the available data, most of those who die on migration routes within and departing from Africa are never identified. Their families are left without answers, without recourse, and often without access to a support system.
"Every life lost along migration routes underscores the urgent need to strengthen collective efforts to prevent deaths and disappearances along migration routes and improve cooperation on missing migrants to protect people on the move," said Justin MacDermott, IOM Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"The exchanges during this consultation have identified concrete actions on prevention, search and identification of the missing, support to their families, and better documentation of the crisis, which can inform the IMRF process and help advance policies that address the crisis of missing migrants," he added.
The consultation brought together more than 50 participants, including representatives from government institutions, the African Union, the League of Arab States, United Nations partners, humanitarian organizations, civil society actors, and technical experts, from Djibouti, The Gambia, Libya, Morocco, Niger, and Tunisia, and was organized around five pillars: prevention of migrant deaths and disappearances; data and foresight, search and identification of the missing; support to affected families, and accountability and justice.
Participants reviewed good practices from across the continent, including coordination mechanisms, search and rescue approaches, and processes related to the identification of the remains of migrants who have died. They emphasized that effective responses require cooperation across government institutions and partners at national and transnational levels, and that humanitarian assistance to migrants in distress must be protected.
The consultation also highlighted the rights and needs of families of missing migrants. Participants underscored the importance of accessible mechanisms through which families can seek information about missing relatives and stressed the need for sustained institutional cooperation and cross-border collaboration.
Participants further discussed persistent gaps in data on migrant deaths and disappearances, which create a skewed perception of the crisis and undermine effective responses. Strengthening ethical and disaggregated data collection, improving transnational information sharing, and using data to identify high-risk areas and inform humanitarian assistance were highlighted as necessary steps to enable more effective responses.
"Saving lives and responding to the plight of missing migrants requires cooperation on national and transnational levels," said Anna Praz, ICRC Head of Delegation in Cairo. "Above all, States have a critical role to play in developing technical capacities, policies and legal frameworks to address this important humanitarian issue."
Yet, there is also a role for civil society and local actors that needs to be preserved in the context of dwindling humanitarian funding. As Dr. Amal Emam, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent noted, "Through Humanitarian Service Points, Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers provide support, care, and safe spaces for people on the move."
Participants also agreed on the importance of follow-up mechanisms to maintain momentum beyond the consultation, including a working group focused on missing migrants along key African corridors and a shared resource repository consolidating tools, guidance, and methodologies to support national implementation.
This event comes at a pivotal moment, following the Ministerial Meeting of African GCM Champion Countries held on 1 April in Cairo, where Champion Countries called for a unified African position ahead of the 2026 IMRF, emphasizing the need for strengthened collaboration to ensure the protection and safety of migrants through whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches, among other priorities outlined in the Joint Ministerial Statement.
The United Nations Network on Migration and partners stand ready to support African Member States in ensuring that the priorities identified in Cairo are clearly reflected throughout the IMRF process. This includes providing technical support, elevating African perspectives, supporting national reporting, and accompanying States in the implementation of their commitments.
