Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of progress on the EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative to tackle irregular migration.

The Khartoum Process has made good progress to address people smuggling and human trafficking in the Horn of Africa. The UK chaired two thematic meetings in 2016 and 2017 and Egypt hosted a trilateral meeting (Khartoum/Rabat Processes and Horn of Africa Initiative) in November 2017 to understand: progress to date; ongoing challenges; and the solutions needed for a joined-up and concerted response.

The Khartoum Process has approved 147 programmes under its Better Migration Management (BMM) programme and it also continues to implement the Regional Operation Centre of Khartoum (ROCK) which aims to improve cooperation and information sharing between law enforcement agencies to disrupt the people smuggling and trafficking rings exploiting migrants. The 2018 Italian Chairmanship will build upon these efforts with further thematic and training workshops alongside a review of thematic conclusions to ensure tangible future delivery. There will also be a Joint Senior Officials Meeting in November to assess the progress made under the Joint Valletta Action Plan.