Living without them: Stories of families left behind International Organization for Migration

Tens of thousands of families around the world are missing relatives who left to migrate to another country and haven’t been heard from again. In 2019-2020, IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and a team of independent researchers carried out a project in Ethiopia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe to better understand the experiences and the challenges that families in these countries face while searching for their missing migrant relatives. By raising awareness about such families and their specific needs, the project aims to motivate action by governments and other actors to support them.  

This is the fourth episode of a four-part series that looks at the findings of this project. Project Officer Marta Sánchez Dionis talk with Oussama El Baroudi, about irregular migration journeys to Spain, and to Gabriella Sanchez, Research Coordinator of the project, about how families in Spain tirelessly search for answers about their loved ones, despite having so little formal support along the way. Read the report with the findings of the research in Spain here: [insert link to PUB library when available]

Music by Blue Dot sessions.
Illustration by Salam Shokor / IOM.
Living without them – stories of families left behind, is a podcast series produced by IOM's Data Analysis Centre in Berlin.

Tens of thousands of families around the world are missing relatives who left to migrate to another country and haven’t been heard from again. In 2019-2020, IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and a team of independent researchers carried out a project in the United Kingdom, Spain, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe to better understand the experiences and the challenges that families in these countries face while searching for their missing migrant relatives. By raising awareness about such families and their specific needs, the project aims to motivate action by governments and other actors to support them.  

This is the third episode of a four-part series that looks at the findings of this project in the United Kingdom (UK). Project Coordinator Kate Dearden talks with Sia Kondeh, Project Support Officer at IOM UK, about how families of missing migrants fall between the cracks of existing policies and laws related to missing persons in the UK. We also hear from Dr. Samuel Okyere, who conducted the research in the UK, about how families in the UK search for their loved ones lost on migration journeys, despite multiple structural constraints ranging from the circumstances in their countries of origin, where their loved ones went missing and their encounters with institutions.



IOM calls for action in the UK, and elsewhere, to support these families. Besides the moral imperative, Objective 8 of the Global Compact on Migration specifically calls on states to identify those who have died or gone missing, and to facilitate communication with affected families. This is applicable regardless of migration status of the missing person or the situation of their families.

The country report with the findings of the project is free to download here: https://publications.iom.int/books/fa...​

Music by Blue Dot sessions.
Illustration by Salam Shokor / IOM.
Living without them – stories of families left behind, is a podcast series produced by IOM's Data Analysis Centre in Berlin.

Tens of thousands of families around the world are missing relatives who left to migrate to another country and haven’t been heard from again. In 2019-2020, IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and a team of independent researchers carried out a project in Ethiopia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe to better understand the experiences and the challenges that families in these countries face while searching for their missing migrant relatives.

By raising awareness about such families and their specific needs, the project aims to motivate action by governments and other actors to support them.  

This is the second episode of a four-part series that looks at the findings of this project. Project Coordinator Kate Dearden talks with Mengistu Tadesse, Program Officer at IOM Ethiopia, about why young Ethiopian men and women find themselves taking unsafe migration journeys that put them in danger of going missing, and to Dr. Tekalign Ayalew Mengiste, who led the research with families in Ethiopia for this project, about what families are doing to look for their missing loved ones and what can be done to better support them.

The country report with the findings of the project is free to download here: https://publications.iom.int/books/fa...​

To learn more about IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, visit: www.missingmigrants.iom.int

Music by Blue Dot sessions.
Illustration by Salam Shokor / IOM.
Living without them – stories of families left behind, is a podcast series produced by IOM's Data Analysis Centre in Berlin.

Tens of thousands of families around the world are missing relatives who left to migrate to another country and haven’t been heard from again. In 2019-2020, IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and a team of independent researchers carried out a project in Ethiopia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe to better understand the experiences and the challenges that families in these countries face while searching for their missing migrant relatives. By raising awareness about such families and their specific needs, the project aims to motivate action by governments and other actors to support them.  

This is the first episode of a four-part series that looks at the findings of this project. Project Coordinators Kate Dearden and Marta Sánchez Dionis talk with Frank Laczko, Director of GMDAC, about states’ obligations to help families of missing migrants, to Julia Black, who works on IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, about what we know about those who die or disappear on migration journeys worldwide, and to Gabriella Sanchez, Research Coordinator of the project, about how families tirelessly search for answers about their loved ones, despite having so little formal support along the way. The reports with the findings of the project will be published in April and May 2021 on www.missingmigrants.iom.int and https://publications.iom.int/​ .

Music by Blue Dot sessions.
Illustration by Salam Shokor / IOM.
Living without them – stories of families left behind, is a podcast series produced by IOM's Data Analysis Centre in Berlin.