The African Union(AU) Commission has organized a regional forum on migration issues held at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on Monday, the 12 of May that was funded by the EC as a part of EU-Africa dialogue.
Accordingly, government officials and policy makers from the East African region have gathered to discuss issues related to migration problems in the region. Moreover, the event, which was hosted by the AU Commission, the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), aimed to strengthen cooperation between IGAD member states and transit-migration countries such as Chad, Egypt, Libya, Niger, Tunisia and Yemen.
Jean Ping also announced that in order to facilitate the implementation of the AU policy as well as the EU-Africa Strategic Partnership on Migration, the Department of Social Affairs within the AU has recruited a Programme Coordinator for Migration and also prepared and already started implementing its two-year Migration Programme and Plan of Activities (2008-2009). The first activity are consultative visits to the RECs. The Consultation with IGAD was already carried out last month. The outcome and recommendations of the consultation visit will be considered for further partnership and implementation.
Additionally, he urged Member States to identify Contact Persons within the Focal Ministries for migration issues so as to ensure smooth exchange of information and effective collaboration with the Department of the Social Affairs.
Ambassodor Dino Sinigallia, Head of the EC Delegation in Addis, emphasized that the European Commission has been very active in the area of human resources for health in Africa. The Commission is currently preparing a Communication on how to enhance Policy Coherence for Development, including in the area of migration.
The regional forum, which is the first of its kind for the sub-region, follows various political developments concerning migration in Africa, including the implementation of the AU strategic framework for a migration policy in Africa, and a joint European Union-Africa Declaration on Migration and Development, aimed at enhancing cooperation on migration management between the two continents.The workshop was funded by the European Commission (EC) and various European governments as part of the EU-Africa dialogue on migration management issues in general, and the fight against irregular migration in particular.
Speech by Jean Ping – doc
Speech by Dino Sinigallia – doc
Draft Programme – doc
The East African Migration Route – paper – doc
