Key mixed migration characteristics
South Central Somalia ranks highly as an area of origin for people in mixed migration flows in the Horn of Africa region. Mixed migration movements from Somalia are primarily refugees and asylum seekers, who number close to 1 million in the region. Somalia’s diaspora network, which is spread all over the globe and numbers between 1-1.5 million persons, is a major contributor to the economy and stability of the state, contributing between USD 1.3 and 2 billion per year in remittances. There are 1.1 million internally displaced persons across the whole of Somalia, 839,000 of who are displaced within the South Central region. The signature of a Tripartite Agreement between the Federal Government of Somalia, the Government of Kenya and UNHCR in 2013 will see South Central Somalia increasingly become an area for mixed migration destination movements as refugees from neighbouring Kenya return to the country. According to the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report 2016, Somalia is a source, transit and destination country for forced labour and sex trafficking.