Addis Ababa, 25 March 2016 (ECA) – It has been described as having a triple-win scenario for Africa: wins for young migrants, wins for their countries of origin and wins for their countries of destination. But the migratory movement of people across borders in Africa comes with its own complexities. This is good enough reason for delegates to the forthcoming African Development Week deliberations at the Economic Commission for Africa’s facilities in the Ethiopian capital to participate in one of the conference’s key side events on 2 April dubbed ’International Migration in Africa: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities’.
Discussions at the event will be facilitated by high standing panellists including Mr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki –Chief Executive Officer for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Ambassador Laura Thompson – Deputy Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Mr Moustapha S. Kaloko - African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mr Alioune Sall – Head of African Futures and Prof. Mariama Awumbila of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana. They will examine the future of migration in Africa, with particular emphasis on the related issues, challenges and opportunities.
Attendees will be looking at migration as a key factor that influences sustainable development and seek to unpack how it affects economic, social, political, administrative and other aspects of governance in countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants. They will also examine its integration into development planning and into other critical spheres while proposing ways of making the phenomenon a vector of investment on the continent.
The panellists will also be expected to propose pertinent recommendations appealing governments of recipient countries to establish laws, policies, programmes and practices which ensure the respect, protection and preservation of the human rights of all migrants while taking into consideration their various needs and contributions to development.
The United Nations now considers migration as one of the dimensions of globalisation, with the migrant seen as a new actor on the international scene. This explains why the UN set up the Global Migration Group (GMG) which is expected to produce a report on the subject that would help member states zero-in on the opportunities of the phenomenon.
Issued by:
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Economic Commission for Africa
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