African Perspectives on International Migration Trends

1. INTERNATIONAL MIGRATIONTRENDS AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS FROM THE AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE By Prof. John O. Oucho

2. 1. INTRODUCTION: • Nature and Scope of the Study • Size of and diversity in Africa necessitate selective coverage • African countries as origins, transit and destinations • The study adopts the UN regionalisation of Africa: EA,MA,NA, SA and WA • Typologies of International Migration • Permanent settlers. • Labour migration. • Refugees and asylum seekers. • Undocumented/illegal/clandestine/unauthorised. • Irregular migration. • Itinerant traders and business persons.

3. 1.Introduction cont... • Limitations and Gaps: Data inadequacies, lack of migration surveys, lack of reseerch institutions and reseachers... Lack of explicit migration policies • Institutional Frameworks: Thrust on ‘migration management’, not ‘control, RECs and RCPs • Outline of the Study: 1) Multi-level surge in migration work; 2)Institutional frameworks guiding international migration in Africa; 3)Migrants’ attributes in migration policies; 4) Contemporary issues in migration policies at REC and national levels; and 5) Conclusion.

4. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTS • 2.1Origin-Destination Links of Migration • Immigration and Emigration without policy prescriptions in Countries of Origin (see Table 2). • Policy and Legislative Measures in Countries of Destination: IOM’s work since 2000 instructive [WM]. • Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements [Mediterranean basin, Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Workers; MIDA] – see Table 3.

5. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTScont. • 2.2International Instruments and Migrant Rights (see Table 4) • Refugee Conventions and Protocols: International, OAU/AU (mostly signed, ratified and implemented) • Migrant Workers and Members of their Families: Unpopular both in the South and the North; sugned by only 16 of African countries • Conventions and Protocols on Irregular Migration, 2000: Second most popular in Africa but implementation is questionable.

6. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTScont. • 2.3International Migration in the context of Regional Integration (see Table 5 for RECs) • The Quest for Protocol on Free Movement of ‘Flow Phenomena: People, labour, goods, capital, services (see Table 6). • The status and challenges of free movement Protocols in African RECs: Visa free entry easiest phase, other phases controversial; Member States’ concurrence without knowledge of the citizen mood a contradiction. • Marching towards the AEC and the Ultimate Protocol: 6 phases of the process: phases 1-3 - economic integration matters (1997-2017); phase 4 - liberalisation of the African Common Market: harmonisation of trade policies and other sectoral policies and realisation of all phases of FMOP protocol (2017-2019); phase 5 – consolidation of the AEC (2019-2023); and phase 6 – comprehensive integration with common institutions in place (2023-2028)

7. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTScont. • 2.4Migrant Rights in Gender and Health • Migrant Rights through the Gender prism [UN (1995) International Migration Policies and the Status of Women]had no paper on African female migration. • Issues confounding female migrants’ rights: (i) stereotyping them as unskilled migrants; (ii) linking ageing in Western societies to feminised care labour; and (iii) restrictions imposed on family immigration (income requirements for family reunification, etc.) • Migrant Rights in Health Access: Case study of Botswana on migrants’ and refugees’ access to health services (Oucho and Ama, 2009).

8. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTScont. • 2.5Perspectives of Migration and Development • Brain Drain, Circulation and Brain Gain: • From ‘brain drain’ as a loss to Africa to ‘brain gain’ • Understand the changing migration configurations in Africa • The African Diaspora and Homeland Development • Misinterpretation of ‘diaspora’ in Africa • Temporal and spatial dimensions of the African diaspora • Is there an ‘African diaspora’ (AU’s 6th region) or ‘nationalist’ and other types of the African diaspora? [see Table 9 for a typology]. • Diaspora remittances: monetary and social [Peggy Levitt (1996) and others] • Return and Capacity-enhancement Schemes: From RQAN and TOKTEN to MIDA • Return Migration and of Prospects of Physical and Virtual Return: Return to what? (Skeldon, 2005); types of return not all positive (Cerase, 1974) • Dual Citizenship: The Balancing Act at Destinations and Origins

9. 2.INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES AND ARRANGEMENTScont. • 2.6Bilateral and Multilateral Coordination and Cooperation • EU-AU initiatives • The AU African Migration Policy Framework for Africa, 2006 [see Table 10]. • Regional Consultative Processes (RPCs): MIDSA, MIDWA, MiGAD • The IGAD Regional Migration Policy Framework (IGAD-RMPF): Now doing rounds in IGAD circles • National Migration Policies (NMPs): Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa (mainly immigration), Zimbabwe.

10. 3. MIGRANTS’ ATTRIBUTES IN MIGRATION POLICIES • 3.1Demographic Attributes in Migration Policies • Importance of Age • The SSA scenario: internal migration (20-29 years); international migration (the 30s onwards). • South Africa’s centrality in Southern Africa: SA’s Children’s Act 2005 adopts the Convention on the Rights of the Child. • Migrants’ Sex in Migration Policies: Black migration to SA (Bohning, 1981) underlined male migration and ignored female migration (Dodson, 2001, 2005).

11. 3. MIGRANTS’ ATTRIBUTES IN MIGRATION POLICIES cont... • 3.2Socio-economic Attributes in Migration Policies: Focus on Gender • The concept of ‘feminisation’ of migration has mixed acceptance • From ‘associational’ to ‘autonomous’ migrants • Women as victims of migrant trafficking and smuggling [some domestic workers in the Middle East]

12. 4. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MIGRATION POLICES • 4.1Remittances in Migrant Origin-Destination Links • Policies in the Countries of Origin of Migration: • Tapping the migrant citizens’ remittances without migrants’ involvement • Migrant showcases on the increase (Homecoming Fiestas, etc.) • Policies in the Countries of Destination of Migration: • Financial Action Task Force (FAFT): monitoring MTOs, remitter-recipient links) • Anti- Money laundering and Combating Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures • Need for bilateral and multi-lateral remittances-based policies • Inter-linkages of Remittance Policies: • UK-Nigeria Remittance Country Partnership (RCP) for facilitation of remittance packages • The World Bank’s Future of African Remittances (FAR) to reduce the cost of remittances, encourage formal channels, etc.

13. 4. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN MIGRATION POLICES cont... • 4.2Policies on Circular Migration and Transnationalism • Policies and Partnerships: Origin-Destination Links • Intra-REC and inter-REC consultative meetings • Facilitation of FMOP protocols and flexibility in inter-REC initiatives • Co-development initiatives (e.g. France and Mali); EU-Africa Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development, Sirte, Libya, November 2006 . • 4.3Consequences of the Global Economic Crisis for Migration Flows • Virtually unexplored in Africa • Changing migration policies in the destination countries • Evidence of some return migration to Africa

14. 5. CONCLUSION • International migration within and out of Africa is a continuum of the phenomenon but diverse types exist. • The problem of paucity of international migration data. • Unawareness of international instruments which their governments have signed and/or ratified. • Inadequate knowledge of citizens perceptions of and attitudes to their governments’ and REC’s moves on migration issues. • African universities and research institutes should undertake relevant research, offer appropriate training, initiate sustained policy dialogue and cultivate viable networks which would foster regional integration-migration-tolerance linkages.

15. 5. CONCLUSIONcont. • Diverse aspects of migration call for proper research to yield baseline information which in turn would inform policy. ASANTE SANA!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!