Freetown – Sierra Leone on Tuesday unveiled its first-ever and most comprehensive plan yet for managing migration, establishing a national framework designed to transform how the government intends to harness the promise of migration for the country.
The National Implementation Plan of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Sierra Leone formally adopted at a ceremony in Freetown, translates global migration principles into concrete policy across seven priority areas, from border management to data collection to addressing the economic and environmental forces that drive people to leave.
Accompanying it is a new National Coordination Mechanism, a five-tier governance structure spanning ministries, civil society, and local leaders, tasked with ensuring the plan actually gets implemented rather than collecting dust on government shelves.
“Today, we gather not merely to launch documents, but to embark on a transformative journey,” said the Honourable Minister of Internal Affairs, Assistant Inspector General (Retired) Morie Lengor Esq, in remarks that captured both the ambition and the vulnerability underlying the initiative.
“This Plan is our sovereign commitment to ensure that migration becomes a choice, not a necessity; a source of prosperity, not peril.”
The framework reflects a delicate reality. Sierra Leone has long been a country of emigration: its doctors, nurses, and engineers leaving for opportunities abroad while family members depend on remittances. It has also absorbed refugees from regional conflicts. Now, facing climate pressures and limited economic opportunities, the government is trying to shape migration rather than simply react to it.
Through IOM’s voluntary return and reintegration programmes, more than 13,000 Sierra Leoneans have safely returned home since 2017, most from Niger, Mali, and Mauritania. This year alone, over 1,600 people have chosen to return, with a growing number of women among them – nearly half of all returnees in 2025 – reflecting the wider trend of the feminization of migration in the country.
The National Implementation aligns with the Global Compact for Migration, a global framework adopted in 2018. In adopting it, Sierra Leone joins a growing group of nations treating migration as a development issue requiring coordination across multiple agencies and sectors.
In her statement, Ms. Sylvia Ekra, Regional Director of the International Organization for Migration’s West and Central Africa office, praised the Government of Sierra Leone for this milestone achievement.
“Today, we are not just launching a plan; we are charting a collective vision for the future of migration governance in Sierra Leone”, she said. “The challenges ahead are many but so are the opportunities. Materializing them will require sustained commitment, continued political will, adequate resources, and robust monitoring to ensure no one is left behind”, she added.
For more information, please contact:
Moses Kalokoh, Communications Assistant, IOM Sierra Leone: mokalokoh@gmail.com
