AlJazeera Video: Ethiopian Migrants Drawn to Dangerous Journey Despite Risks

The Ethiopians in the video who mentioned they will attempt to get to Europe will do so by claiming they are Eritrean. It's an open secret that thousands of "Eritreans" entering Europe are in fact Ethiopians masquerading as Eritreans. They use the Eritrean identity when applying for asylum due to UNHCR's policy position of categorizing all Eritrean migrants as "prima faice asylum seekers" (i.e. automatic recognition of Eritreans en masse).

Eritreans were given this special status by UNHCR for political reasons. It was mainly put in place to induce Eritreans to leave their country by removing the criminal aspect of their migration and to force to hand of Western countries to accept Eritrean migrants as "refugees". Without UNHCR's designation, the threat of being arrested and deported back to their country would of discouraged many if not most from attempting such a dangerous and expensive voyage. It would of also deterred many African migrants, including Ethiopians, from using the Eritrean name to attempt such a journey.

Related Reading: Evidence-Based Review: International Crisis Group’s Eritrean “Exodus” Report

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