by Ethiopian Network of Women Shelters (ENWS)
Migration is often portrayed as a journey of hope an escape from poverty, conflict, or limited opportunities. However, for many women, girls, and vulnerable individuals, irregular (illegal) migration becomes a pathway to violence, exploitation, and trauma. Behind the promise of a better life lies a hidden crisis where gender-based violence (GBV) thrives in silence.
Understanding Irregular Migration
Irregular migration refers to movement across borders without legal authorization or through unsafe and unofficial routes. People may rely on smugglers, traffickers, or informal networks due to lack of safe migration options, misinformation, or desperation. These journeys are often long, dangerous, and unregulated creating conditions where abuse is widespread and rarely reported.
The Link between Irregular Migration and GBV
Women and girls on irregular migration routes face heightened risks of GBV at every stage of the journey from recruitment and transit to destination and return. Common forms of violence include:
- Sexual violence and rape
- Trafficking for sexual exploitation
- Forced marriage or domestic servitude
- Physical abuse, intimidation, and coercion
- Economic exploitation and denial of basic needs
Perpetrators may include smugglers, traffickers, border officials, employers, or even fellow migrants. Fear of arrest, detention, stigma, or deportation often forces survivors to remain silent, allowing violence to continue unchecked.
Why Women and Girls Are Disproportionately Affected
Gender inequality, poverty, and harmful social norms make women and girls particularly vulnerable. Many migrate due to forced marriage, domestic violence, lack of education, or economic exclusion. Once on irregular routes, their dependence on others for food, shelter, or protection increases the risk of exploitation.
For some, violence is used as a “currency” to continue the journey, an unacceptable reality that highlights the urgent need for protection and accountability.
The Psychological and Social Impact
The impact of GBV does not end when the journey ends. Survivors often suffer from long-term trauma, depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Without access to psychosocial support, legal services, or safe shelters, many are retraumatized upon return or resettlement.
Communities also bear the cost, through broken families, stigma, and cycles of violence that continue across generations.
The Importance of Awareness and Prevention
Preventing GBV in the context of irregular migration requires strong awareness, community engagement, and survivor-centered responses. This includes:
- Providing accurate information on the risks of irregular migration
- Promoting safe and legal migration pathways
- Strengthening community-based prevention and early warning systems
- Ensuring access to shelters, psychosocial care, legal aid, and medical services
- Protecting survivors without discrimination or fear of punishment
Media, civil society organizations, and government institutions all play a critical role in breaking the silence and amplifying survivor voices.
A Call to Action
Irregular migration should never mean forfeiting one’s right to dignity, safety, and justice. Gender-based violence is not an inevitable part of migration, it is preventable.
As the Ethiopian Network of Women Shelters (ENWS), we call on communities, institutions, and the media to stand with survivors, raise awareness, and strengthen protection systems.
Ending GBV in migration contexts is not only a women’s issue, it is a human rights imperative.
