From January to February 2023, UNHCR South Africa Multi-Country Office conducted joint screening with IOM and registration on pro- Gres v4 in Comoros, located in the northern Mozambican channel of the Indian Ocean, for people in need of international protection. This was after 30 migrants travelling to the island of Mayotte, which is part of France, were intercepted by the Comorian coastguard and provided shelter in the gendarmerie on Moheli Island on 8 January 2023. After a meeting between the UN Resident Coordinator Francois Batalingaya and the Minister of Interior, IOM and UNHCR were finally permitted to conduct joint screening to determine if they were of concern to either IOM or UNHCR. All 30 individuals sought asylum and protection in Comoros and were registered in the UNHCR proGres database utilising the Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS).
Furthermore, UNHCR engaged with the Commission Nationale des Droits de l’Homme et des Libertés (CNDHL), which is mandated to ensure that the human rights of vulnerable per- sons like refugees and forcibly displaced people are not violated. CNDHL also advocates with the government and parliament to ratify inter- national instruments relating to human rights in the country. UNHCR informed the CNDHL on developments related to individuals refouled, the extent to which Comoros was meeting its international and domestic obligations and how joint advocacy could be undertaken to pre- vent breaches, improve the protection space and support the government.