Annual report

Venezuela
reached 
more than 6,600 people.
Strategic Priorities
| Migration and displacement 
127

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SPOTLIGHT
THE GLOBAL ROUTE-BASED 
MIGRATION PROGRAMME
Migrants (including refugees, asylum seek-
ers, migrant workers and other displaced 
people – people on the move) make dangerous 
and difficult journeys in search of safety or a bet-
ter life. Too often, they face terrible risks on the 
way such as in the Mediterranean, or of abuses 
and exploitation along the Sahara Desert, the 
Gulf of Aden, the Darien Gap and elsewhere.
The IFRC network has a humanitarian imperative 
to respond and a responsibility to make these 
journeys safer and more dignified – to save 
lives, reduce risks, and provide access to essen-
tial services.
The network’s solution to providing more and 
better support to people on the move is called 
The Global Route-Based Migration Programme.
It combines the reach and expertise of 57 
“implementing” National Societies across Africa, 
the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East and 
North Africa.
In 2022, the IFRC worked to address humani-
tarian needs along migration routes through 
hundreds of Humanitarian Service Points on 
land, and one – HSP@Sea – which provides 
clothes, meals, medical and psychosocial care to 
people rescued by the Ocean Viking ship in the 
Central Mediterranean Sea.
The services provided by Humanitarian Service 
Points may differ from context to context, but 
all are designed to give comfort, information, 
and dignity to people on the move. For exam-
ple, in North Macedonia, a house in the forest 
along the border with Serbia provides spaces 
for people on the move to wash, cook and 
sleep, access important information, and more. 
In northern Niger, healthcare to people on the 
move is complemented with food distribution 
and other services.
This year, the IFRC focused the programme’s 
action through its three priority operational 
pillars: direct humanitarian assistance and pro-
tection through Humanitarian Service Points; 
enhancing the capacities of National Societies 
through better route-based coordination; and 
humanitarian diplomacy to foster enabling pol-
icy and operational environments.
In 2022, more than 100,000 people on the move 
and people in host communities were provided 
with humanitarian services.
Over 2,500 people, including 750 children res-
cued by the Ocean Viking ship were provided 
humanitarian services through the Humanitarian 
Service Point @ Sea.
Staff and volunteers were trained to support 
people on the move, and cross-border and 
peer-to-peer exchanges were facilitated.
Governments were engaged in humanitarian 
policy dialogue with their National Society.
In addition, in 2022 the IFRC began to co-lead 
a UN Network on Migration workstream with 
UNHCR, IOM, and ICRC to develop actional rec-
ommendations on strengthening humanitarian 
assistance to migrants in distress.
Humanitarian needs will continue to grow and 
people on the move – those in conditions of 
vulnerability, facing death and suffering in their 
search for safety and opportunity – will continue 
to need Red Cross and Red Crescent support.