Every day, people move from their homes in search of a better future, either in their country or by crossing borders. Often, these people face challenges and protection concerns that are overlooked.
It is anticipated that 130 million people will have fled their homes in 2024, and the gap between their needs and the resources to respond to them continues to grow.
The Human Mobility Hub's mission
The Human Mobility Hub (HMH) aims to build a network of empowered communities and partnerships, to protect the rights and dignity of people on the move and those hosting them.
The HMH currently focuses on North Africa due to the region’s strategic importance as a destination and transit for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. North Africa is a hotspot for accelerated climate change and will experience increased resource competition. The HMH works across Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
The HMH’s approach relies on collaboration and partnership. By co-designing and co-implementing with people on the move and local partners, it aims to provide a tailored, localised, and multi-disciplinary response. The HMH links countries of origin, transit and destination, to foster cross-country and cross-regional collaboration for learning and for operations.
Background
People on the move include internally displaced people, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and returnees. The reasons for their movement vary, and whether people intend to stay in a location long-term or are just transiting, they need to be able to access protection, education, a safe home, dignified employment, or essential services to build a better future.
Unfortunately, an increasing number of people on the move are stuck in long-term displacement. Both along their journey and in their displacement location, they often fall victim to harassment, discrimination and exploitation, and have limited access to legal recourse or ways to regularise their stay. People on the move are increasingly seen as "in competition" for jobs and services with local communities and, often equally desperate, local youth.
The lack of prospects pushes some to take increasingly dangerous irregular migration routes hoping to find a better life elsewhere. The support to host local communities facing economic challenges in these contexts is also critical, including to enhance social cohesion.
Objectives
The HMH and its partners have co-designed a strategy with the following objectives to which each partner will contribute to, in line with their expertise. The HMH and partners will jointly work towards one operational objective and one knowledge management objective.
Improve and safeguard the protection of rights for people on the move
- Improve access of people on the move and host communities to basic services.
- Provide information, counselling and legal assistance to people on the move throughout their journey.
- Ensure continued education and learning opportunities for people on the move throughout their journey.
- Promote the economic inclusion of people on the move.
- Enhance social cohesion, fostering cultural exchange and promoting mutual understanding among host communities and people on the move.
- Support the participation of people on the move and their representatives, including refugee- and migrant-led organisations.
Establish a robust knowledge-sharing framework that fosters collaborative learning, information exchange, and joint research
- Promote communities of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborative learning among the network’s partners.
- Initiate and facilitate joint actionable research that bridges knowledge gaps around the journey and experiences of people on the move.
Find out more
Download the capacity statement below.
Contact the HMH Director, Katleen Maes: katleen.maes@nrc.no
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The HMH receives support from the EU – Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Swiss Development Cooperation, US Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, and private funding. It receives technical support from several research institutions and the private sector.
