RABAT – The African Union Commission highlighted this week the activation of new regional centres by inaugurating the North African Consultations on Migration.
This came at the opening session of the North African Consultations of the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) on Migration and Freedom of Movement, held in Rabat on November 7-10.
Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, Strategic Adviser to the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said that the meeting crowns a series of consultations held by the Council in the five African regional regions, paving the way for them to be presented to intergovernmental bodies of the Union for policy-making.
“The contributions represent the voice of the specialized African civil society in a way that complements the work undertaken by governments at the national levels”, he added.
Aljowaily highlighted that the current year witnessed an important activation of the regional governance system for migration issues at the African level, in the form of the African Center for Studies and Research on Migration, headquartered in Bamako, Mali, the African Migration Observatory, based in Rabat, Morocco, and the Continental Operations Center, based in Khartoum, Sudan.
He announced that these efforts coincide with the initiatives of the African Union concerned with evaluating the first ten-year plan for the implementation of the African Agenda 2063 and designing the second ten-year plan, which contributes to strengthening the role of internal, regional and international migration in achieving development at the continental level.
The African Union Strategic Advisor added that the overwhelming proportion of African migration is within the continent itself, forming an element of regional integration along with other initiatives that aim at enhancing cooperation among the member states of the Union, especially the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area and the promotion of industrialization and value-added chains, as the two main topics that will be discussed at the extraordinary summit to be held in Niamey, Niger, this November.
Aljowaily commended the new management of the African Observatory for Migration in Rabat, Ambassador Namira Nejm, who leads a center of excellence for compiling statistics, conducting studies and monitoring emerging patterns of migration, calling on African experts at universities and research centers to provide African mechanisms with the results of their studies and support them with their expertise in this important field.
Representatives of civil society from Arab African countries from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and Libya participated in the consultations.
