Africa: Migration Dialogue Roots for Regional Integration
By Staff Writer
Addis Ababa--- A one-day high-level dialogue on international migration took place 17 October at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The dialogue was attended by senior African policy-makers and academics to discuss collaboration to ensure that migration is beneficial to economic growth and regional integration on the continent.
In her opening remarks to the meeting, the director of ECA’s African Centre for Gender and Social Development, Ms Thokozile Ruzvidzo, pointed out that many studies have confirmed that migration is beneficial to both the countries from which the migrants originate and the countries of destination.
However, the issue remains controversial: “The countries of origin are concerned that many migrants are the most educated and enterprising people, and therefore are a big loss to development. The countries of destination are concerned about the impacts on their labour markets and displacement of their own workers.”
She therefore called for the promotion and harmonization of good policies that govern migration, both within countries and internationally, to ensure that the contributions of international migration are harnessed to derive maximum benefits.
“The high-level dialogue, which was held in New York in September 2006, marked a turning point in the history of understanding and negotiating international migration as an important force for developing in the countries of origin and countries of destination, a win-win process in a global environment of human and capital circulation,” she said. The next high-level dialogue is scheduled for 2013 and this meeting will be part of Africa’s preparatory process for the high-level dialogue.
In her opening remarks to the conference, the commissioner for social affairs at the African Union Commission (AUC), Bience Gawanas, pledged the full support of the AUC in implementing any decisions on migration as the issue is of great importance to Africa.
“African migrants contribute about US$40 billion in remittances to their families and communities back home every year, affecting as many as 25 million recipient households and significantly reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth,” she said.
Ms Gawanas said an African Migration Policy Framework was adopted in 2006 and can serve as guidelines and principals to assist governments and regional economic communities in formulating national and regional policies. She also noted that the African Union and European Union have both adopted a joint declaration on migration that recognizes the importance of migration to both communities. However, some challenges of implementation remain and more discussions are needed to arrive at achievable recommendations.
Representing the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), Mr Josiah Ogina, pointed out that the IOM upholds the key principle that humane and orderly migration is of enormous benefit to both the migrants themselves and their families and societies. He commended several regional consultative processes that are taking place in many sub-regions in Africa, as very important for information exchange and technical cooperation and contributing to improved management of migration.
“It is estimated that intra-regional migration represents 63 per cent of the movements in Africa,” he said adding that this clearly demonstrates the important contribution that migration can make to regional integration.