African Union (AU) has said that eliminating barriers to regional border migration within Africa will translate to economic growth as well as improved migration procedures for Africans.
The apex continental body thus called on African civil society organisations (CSOs) to support and promote the implementation of the AU’s Free Movement Protocol (FMP) and the Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA).
The AU noted that the FMP and the MPFA are the body’s primary policy frameworks to address, manage, and promote migration and mobility in Africa.
The policy frameworks aims to curb and eventually eliminate barriers to regional border migration within the continent.
However, the AU noted that despite the existence of these migration policy frameworks, policy uptake among member states and their popularisation within African civil society remains low and has not achieved the desired impact.
‘Africa has a common problem when it comes to labour migration and free movement, so unless we have a united approach, finding a common solution may seem utopian’, the Head of the AU Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), William Carew, said at the regional CSO sensitisation forum on the Continental Free Movement Protocol in May 2022.
‘We need CSOs to work hand in hand with governments and advocate for the prioritisation of labour migration and free movement issues’.
A May 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) indicated that the East African region is prone to mixed migration flows that are mainly destined for South Africa, Europe, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in 2019, noted that intra-African migration remained a dominant trend, with 79 percent (about 26.5 million) of African migrants having moved within the continent.
Data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) also shows that 17 million Africans are living outside the continent, accounting for 9.8 percent of migrants worldwide in 2019.
Source: African Union
Photo source: IOM
