By : Abdelmonem Fawzi
The number of migrants rose in Africa to 26.5 million, from 23.5 million, between 2015 and 2019.
This a 13 per cent increase in the number of migrants, a lot higher than the global average of 9.2 per cent for the same period. This figure accounted also for 9.8 per cent of the world’s migrant population.
Most of these migrants moved within Africa, not to Europe or North America, while about 86 per cent of migration was not conflict-related.
Remittances to Africa amounted to $78.4 billion in 2020, three times higher than the foreign aid received by the continent in that year, according to the latest figures.
However, the problem is that most migrants confront a spectrum of social and economic challenges across all sectors of society.
This was why the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) held a high-level meeting recently with over 700 government officials and representatives of organisations working on migration.
The meeting aimed to review the implementation of GCM regulations, discuss pressing challenges, share good practices and make recommendations to the first Africa Regional Review of the GCM which will take place between August 31 August and September 1.
The Continental Migration Report, produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), depended on four sub-regional reports compiled by the African Union Commission (AUC) and a summary from stakeholder consultations held since December 2020.
These documents attempted to unpack migration patterns, progress, practices and pathways in Africa for GCM implementation, involving all stakeholders.
Speaking about the continental report, Thokozile Ruzvidzo, the ECA director for the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division, said it reveals that while Africa has made significant progress on GCM, the pandemic threatens to flatten the positive trajectory against several indicators, especially decent jobs and migrants’ safety.
“In parallel, we see a rise in xenophobia and restrictive policies that only increase irregular migration,” she said.
“Such disruptive developments require concerted efforts to make migration work for all,” Ruzvidzo added.
She noted that the report offers policymakers with good practices to build on and a timely evidence base for migration policy development and resource allocation to ensure that Africans would bring the GCM commitment to action.
In addition, trafficking, human rights violations, border governance, legal identity, access to basic services, missing migrants, detention and forced return were key areas of concern in Africa.
In the summary paper and reports, member governments highlighted a series of progressive measures undertaken since the adoption of the GCM in 2018 to implement its 23 objectives, designed to manage all aspects of migration.
These ranged from a visa waiver for intra-Africa travel and a proposed continental passport to joint border monitoring systems, national policies on migration and diaspora, and taskforces on tackling trafficking.
During the presentations, another recurring development was the growing uptake of technology by member states in introducing e-passports, digital IDs, online remittance transfers, data collection, social cohesion campaigns and biometric border control.
Speakers, presenting the summary paper and reports, outlined several additional steps African governments can take to intensify efforts towards implementing the GCM, starting with making migration part of the national development plans in an effort to reduce the root causes for the cross-border movement, such as poverty.
In view of migrants’ role in national development, they urged governments to sign bilateral agreements that support work permit schemes, social security entitlements, a continent-wide skills accreditation body, a harmonized remittance market and diaspora investments.
Countries were further encouraged to raise awareness of the dangers of human trafficking among potential migrants, while working towards enhanced consular services, a coordinated response on missing migrants, legislation to safeguard vulnerable groups, partnerships for safe return, improved data collection and an alignment of national laws with the international anti-trafficking instruments.
Edlam Yemeru, acting director of ECA’s Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division, said ECA continues working closely with member states and other relevant institutions to strengthen their national capacities on generation, analysis and dissemination of disaggregated migration data to support evidence-based policymaking and programming to fully integrate migration into development planning.
“In the long-term, we want to see migration statistics being integrated into national censuses and surveys,” Yemeru said. “This priority intervention builds on the communiqué.”
She further reiterated three key messages from the Africa Regional Review Conference: the need to reframe migration as a ‘development agenda now more than ever’, positioning migration as a means of recovery and resilience of the continent from Covid-19 and other external shocks, and recognising that whilst Africa is going through a challenging time, it is also a time of great opportunity for it.
She noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would transform the continent by significantly boosting GDP growth, manufacturing capacity and employment creation.
“In this context, migration and labour mobility become critical,” Yemeru said. “The benefits of free trade envisaged in the AfCFTA are not attainable without the free movement of people,” she concluded.
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