BUSINESS REPORTER
Migration policy should place migrants at the centre, experts said Tuesday, amid a rise in numbers of persons who moves from one place to another for work or better living conditions on the continent.
It is estimated that the number of migrants in Africa increased to 28m in 2020 from 26.5m in 2019.
Jonathan Prentice, Head of the secretariat of the UN Network on Migration said countries’ response to Covid-19 should ensure that “no one is left behind and that include migrants”.
“They should ensure that migrants are included in vaccination programmes which is a benefit to the migrant and a benefit to the community,” he said at a press conference ahead of the two-day Regional Review Conference on Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in Africa (GCM) which ends Wednesday.
Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director (Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division) at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said 86% of migrants are Africans migrating within the continent and 47% of the migrants are women.
“These migrants move for various reasons but are all in pursuit of better life outcomes and opportunities. One of the main reasons for migrating is to find better jobs,” she said.
The African Development Bank estimates that the continent needs to be creating 12m jobs annually to be able to absorb those seeking employment especially the youth.
Ruzvidzo said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other key pan-African free movement policy instruments including free movement protocols and regional integration initiatives provide a pathway to achieving enhanced availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration by easing restrictive immigration and visa practices in African countries.
She said African countries have made progress in their quest for fair and ethical recruitment for their nationals seeking work in various destination countries by negotiating better wages and decent work through Bilateral Labour Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding.
Prentice said nine African countries—Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Morocco, and Ghana—are part of the 23 champions of the GCM.
He described the Champions initiative as “an expression of interest” and not a process “by which you are vetted”.
“There is nothing to be gained by creating an exclusive club,” Prentice said.
The champions, he said, are willing to be proactive adding the long-term objective is to have champions in all the regions to avoid a situation in which “one region dominates others”.
Maureen Achieng, IOM Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and UNECA, said the GCM recognises that when migration is well managed it contributes positively to the region.
“Africa’s recovery from Covid-19 is linked to our ability to build better and more effective migration governance,” Achieng said.
Ruzvidzo said ECA’s leading role in the GCM review and its other migration-related initiatives are aimed to help Africa to retain skills, improve migration data collection, and assist in the implementation of the continent’s integration through facilitating portability of skills and qualifications and trade through the AfCFTA.
