Khartoum Process brings together 40 European, Horn of Africa and Mediterranean African countries, the European External Action Service, the European Commission, the African Union Commission and seven regional organisations, with a view to preventing and tackling the challenges of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants between the Horn of Africa and Europe, in a spirit of partnership, shared responsibility and cooperation. 

Khartoum Process is led by a Steering Committee comprised of:

• five EU Member States (Italy, France, Germany, UK, Netherlands)
• five African partner countries (Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan)
• the European Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the African Union Commission

Main aim:

Khartoum Process has a specific role to establish a continuous dialogue for enhanced cooperation on migration and mobility as well as to foster the regional collaboration between the countries of origin, transit and destination situated along the migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe (with specific regard to combating the phenomena of human trafficking and smuggling).

Specific objectives:

• provide a framework for consultation and coordination
• contribute to meeting the challenges posed by trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants
• encourage opportunities for partnership, shared responsibility and cooperation

Success factors:

Khartoum Process has progressively become a suitable framework for policy development in the region. In 2017-2018, Khartoum Process widened its thematic scope pertaining to the key priorities outlined in the Rome Declaration. While sustaining the focus on facilitating the cooperation in addressing trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants, it responded to the growing demand to concentrate on the issues related to border management and unaccompanied minors in the context of trafficking and smuggling. This expansion of the original focus was accompanied by further targeted efforts to address other priority areas as outlined in the Rome Declaration, namely the varied root causes of irregular migration as well as issues related to international protection and asylum.
Additionally, following the Valletta Summit on Migration in Malta on 11-12 November 2015 and the adoption of the Joint Valletta Action Plan (JVAP), Khartoum Process was mandated with the monitoring of the implementation of the JVAP. To this end, it encouraged and oversaw the completion by all participants of the mapping against the JVAP priority actions and prepared a Khartoum Process Analysis Report for the Senior Officials’ Meeting in St. Julien, Malta, on 8-9 February 2017, which renewed the political commitment to the principles of cooperation agreed in the Joint Valletta Declaration (solidarity, partnership, shared responsibility). It further provided an overview of initiatives as well as policy and legislation work undertaken by the Process, per domain, and put forward recommendations for partners of the Valletta Summit for further actions, which were further reflected in the Joint Conclusions of the JVAP 2017 Senior Officials’ Meeting. The members of Khartoum Process are increasingly drawing on this framework to design migration interventions and contribute to the active communication among the partners. 

Constraints and challenges:

• Challenges associated with the development, maintenance and continuous update of the network of contact persons;
• Constraints related to bilateral political relations in the region;
• The relative novelty of the Dialogue, which is in the process of consolidating its identity and establishing a modus operandi 

Dates:

November 2014, with the adoption of the Rome Declaration - November 2019