Addis Abeba — In early August 2025, a boat carrying African migrants to Yemen capsized off the coast of Shuqrah in Yemen's Abyan Governorate, killing 68 of some 154 migrants on board, including 14 women. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the passengers on the vessel are reported to all be Ethiopian nationals who were sailing to Yemen, a popular transit country for migrants to reach Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia.
This recent incident highlights the desperate measures vulnerable individuals are forced to take to survive, risking their lives in pursuit of basic necessities. As we mourn those we've lost and are still missing, we must also focus on those who faced the same dangerous journey, made it back to their country, and now work as advocates to prevent others from suffering the same fate.
The demographic composition of migration along the Eastern Route is undergoing a notable shift, becoming increasingly gendered. Globally, women accounted for slightly less than half of all international migrants by mid-2024--about 146 million, or 48%--with 38.7% (64.9 million) of the world's female labor force recorded in 2022. Similarly, Ethiopian women and girls now make up the growing majority of those migrating along the Eastern Route to the Middle East. A recent study estimates that around a quarter of a million Ethiopians migrate each year, with women and girls accounting for 46% of those seeking employment abroad. Most of these migrants are recruited for domestic work, much of which takes place under informal, unregulated, and often hazardous conditions.
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Yet, a story of resilience is unfolding in Ethiopia, driven by women migrants and returnees who are reshaping the migration and development landscape from the ground up. Many of these women, once subjected to exploitation and invisibility during their employment in the Middle East, are now at the forefront of survivor-led organizations. These groups actively challenge stigma and create sustainable alternatives to irregular migration by educating prospective migrants, facilitating the reintegration of returnees, and fostering community-driven development and support systems.
Ethiopian migrants in the Middle East have long been a crucial source of remittances and have actively supported national causes, including advocacy and funding for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Most of Ethiopian women domestic workers' earnings are spent toward supporting their families, building homes and infrastructures, financing siblings' education, and investing in family businesses. Despite their marginalization, studies show that female migrants are among the most economically active and socially engaged emigrants. In Ethiopia, for instance, their remittances were estimated at $4.5 billion in 2021, contributing significantly to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Beyond strengthening the national economy, these funds also support daily household expenses, as well as education, healthcare, housing, and small businesses across the country.
Furthermore, during and after the war in Tigray--which later spread to the Amhara and Afar regions--remittances became vital for both economic recovery and household livelihoods. These funds constituted a significant portion of the nation's finances, accounting for more than 5% of GDP and roughly a quarter of foreign exchange earnings.
From exploitation to empowerment
Unemployment among educated populations in developing countries is an escalating concern, and Ethiopia is no exception. Higher education is increasingly perceived as a pathway that no longer guarantees employment, pushing many graduates to view irregular migration as an alternative means of securing a livelihood. Addressing this challenge requires coordinated, locally driven solutions.
A story of resilience is unfolding in Ethiopia, driven by women migrants and returnees who are reshaping the migration and development landscape from the ground up."
Recognizing the increasing scale of labor migration, the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor and Skills has implemented policies to manage recruitment, protect migrant rights, and improve welfare abroad. These measures aim to ensure that potential migrants are aware of their rights, the legal process for migration, and the importance of using licensed recruitment agencies. For example, Ethiopia enacted the Overseas Employment Proclamation No. 1389/2017, aiming to regulate recruitment and curb illegal recruitment practices. Existing mechanisms, such as the national anti-human trafficking hotline at 8797, further provide prevention information, victim referral, reporting channels, feedback for survivors, and stakeholder engagement. In Addis Abeba, the 6073 hotline offers similar services for victims of internal trafficking.
While these measures are a step forward for ensuring safer migration, their success depends on grassroots implementation and community engagement, areas where women returnees have built credibility. These survivor-led organizations are well-positioned to support the proclamation's goals, and their inclusion would strengthen efforts to make migration safe, orderly, and regular, as well as more informed for those at risk, by drawing on the lived experiences of those who have been affected. As returnees, Ethiopian women are also change agents locally. Beyond their financial roles, these women mobilize support for social institutions by leading groups that offer psychosocial support, vocational training, and microgrants while working with various stakeholders. Through their migrant-led initiatives, they provide returnees like them with what their experience shows is most vital after migration: a sense of dignity, community, and economic opportunities. Importantly, these women address what many formal reintegration programs and policies often overlook in reality: the social and emotional impacts of migration.
Many Ethiopian women, particularly those migrating via unregulated brokers and informal channels, often encounter sexual and gender-based violence during their irregular journeys. Once overseas, domestic workers frequently face exploitative working conditions, physical abuse, and mental health issues. The situation turns upside down when they return to their home country, where they face exclusion and psychological challenges due to broken family ties and a lack of belonging as a result of the Kafala system and deep-rooted gender norms at home, and limited economic opportunities. Consequently, they struggle to reconnect with their former livelihoods, while young women who left as teenagers return without practical skills to adapt to life in Ethiopia. This can be quite challenging since reintegration programs rarely take into account these gender-specific experiences.
Others face betrayal at home, where remittances or assets they built abroad are misused or claimed by family members, leaving returnees without viable pathways to rebuild their lives and eventually choosing to remigrate. In this context, the work of survivor-led associations is indispensable. Because they are founded and run by women with lived experience, and they provide practical support and offer a rare form of recognition and solidarity in a society where returnees often feel excluded as well as stigmatized. They understand, intimately and compassionately, what returnees have gone through and what they need to heal, rebuild, and feel a sense of belonging. By confronting these issues directly, returnee-led organizations close a critical gap left by the more narrowly focused economic reintegration efforts.
Discussing migration and development without recognizing the leadership of Ethiopian women returnees presents a distorted and incomplete view...."
At least eight organizations led by women returnees from the Middle East are currently operating in Ethiopia. Among them is the Yehiwot Menged Lewut Charity Organization (YMLC), which works to combat human trafficking, advocate for policy reform, promote safe migration, and support survivor reintegration in Addis Ababa. Another is the Biruh Addis Charity Organization (BACO), established by fifteen trafficking survivors, which addresses irregular migration through education, empowerment, and advocacy directed at both policymakers and communities.
The Anya Charity Organization provides mental health support, financial assistance, and skills training to help returnees rebuild stable lives following experiences of trafficking and exploitation. Similarly, the Misale Returnees and Potential Migrants Art Organization (MISALE) employs music and art to raise awareness, offer therapeutic support, and empower returnee artists, while also advocating for the inclusion of trafficking issues in public curricula.
Egna Legna Besidet, which began as a migrant worker group in Lebanon, now facilitates reintegration in Ethiopia by offering vocational training, psychosocial support, and advocacy against the Kafala system and gender-based exploitation. KASMA Charity Organization, Ethiopia's first survivor-led anti-trafficking NGO, focuses on combating stigma, advancing legal advocacy, and promoting systemic change by empowering returnee women leaders.
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Another initiative, the Finot Charitable Association, founded by five women returnees, supports psychosocial, technical, and economic reintegration while promoting safer migration through awareness campaigns and stakeholder training. Lastly, AGAR Ethiopia Charitable Society, with a broader mandate, includes returnees among its priority groups, emphasizing livelihood recovery and resilience through its "Respond, Renew, Rebuild" strategy.
While their work has a significant potential to play in migrant-led policy engagement, rooted in empathy, agency, and personal experience, their contributions often go unnoticed in national development stories. However, discussing migration and development without recognizing the leadership of Ethiopian women returnees presents a distorted and incomplete view because they play a crucial role in the country's progress.
Conclusion
To move forward, it is important to officially recognize emigrants' contributions by establishing an advisory body that represents and includes their voices in national development planning. In addition, partnering with diaspora and Ethiopian community organizations abroad can strengthen community-driven initiatives. At the same time, targeted financial tools should channel remittances and investments into productive ventures that are backed by strong monitoring and evaluation systems informed by the migrants' feedback. Ultimately, migration is about people, not just policies, remittances, or statistics.
To the Ethiopian women and men whose journeys continue to shape our nation's future, and especially to the women domestic workers whose labor, contribution, and resilience support families and communities: we see you, we respect you, and we thank you. To the men who often feel overlooked, your sacrifices matter deeply. And to those who lost their lives at sea, rest in peace; may those still missing be found, and may their families know they are not alone. AS
Editor's Note: Halifet Ayemohammed Yusuf (LLB, MA, LLM) is a lecturer in Gender and the Law at Wollo University. She can be reached at [email protected]
