Free and safe movement in East Africa

This report by the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand and Samuel Hall supports the work of Open Society Foundations to promote people’s safe and unencumbered movement across international borders. The research started with a question: what factors threaten the fulfilment of migrants’ rights, and what factors support these? The research team embarked on a multi-region study analysing migration policy and practices in Central, East and Southern Africa. This report reviews findings at the East African sub-regional level, at a time of growing attention to fostering mobility and mobility’s gain for protection and development. Within the East African Community (EAC), the report focuses on Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda. Although the fieldwork primarily focused at two sites each in two countries (Kenya and Tanzania), the synthetic report includes information and face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders from all four countries.