AU urged to put greater effort into tackling migration

About 1,400 mostly young Africans died trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2018. About 1,000 have died so far in 2019.

A recent two-day policy dialogue hosted by the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, “Conflict, Governance, and Human Mobility in Africa/EU Relations”, sought to promote the UN global compact on migration signed in Marrakech in December 2018.

The meeting involved 30 African, European, and UN policymakers, civil society actors and academics.

The causes of African migration to Europe include conflicts in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan and Libya. This has resulted in a lack of opportunity on a continent where 60% of the population is under 30 years old. Poor governance in the form of human rights abuses, electoral violence, unaccountable governments, and a failure to manage diversity effectively have sometimes contributed. Many states from which these migrants come are countries in conflict, emerging from war, or suffering from poor governance.

This situation is complicated by the divergent views of African and EU governments on migration: while African governments often see migration as an opportunity to gain economic remittances about €20bn (R322bn) is contributed by Africans in the EU each year many European governments tend to view the phenomenon

Entrenching as“a Fortress security threat, often scapegoating and criminalising migrants. Europe” has thus prompted governments to strengthen border security in contravention of their own free movement principles under the 1985 Schengen accord with Spain, Greece and Hungary having built border fences to keep out migrants and Slovenia constructing one.

Critics have noted the penchant of EU states to strike deals with economically vulnerable African states such as Mali and Niger in a bid to keep migrants from reaching Europe. Disembarkation points for African migrants have also been proposed in autocratic Egypt and Morocco.

Brussels has argued that 1-million migrants enter the EU annually, and that the 28member bloc has sought to encourage legal circular migration in which migrants can return to their home countries after an agreed period. This proposal, however, has often been dismissed as operating mainly in the realm of theory.

African governments were criticised for not prioritising migration, and it was noted that EU negotiators tend to be much more prepared at migration summits than their African counterparts. Critics have also noted that African governments often largely leave the implementation of migration policies to UN agencies such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The IOM is supporting the AU and African subregional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community to develop migration policies; is backing the Nairobi-based African Institute for Remittances; and has focused on protecting migrants, supporting policy debates, and promoting better understanding of migration issues. The UNHCR, which is leading the implementation of the 2018 UN global compact of refugees, has sought to ease pressure on refugee-hosting countries, extend access to refugees, support country solutions, improve the conditions of refugees, and enhance their self-reliance.

These recommendations emerged from the Johannesburg policy dialogue:

● The AU must urgently implement its 2018 free movement protocol;

● EU governments must stop criminalising search and rescue missions for Africans at sea;

● The AU should allocate substantial resources to tackle migration, and must itself become directly involved in search and rescue missions;

● The EU should provide massive investment to labourintensive economic sectors in Africa, such as agriculture, to promote socioeconomic development and reduce the incentives for migration; and

● African and EU civil society must be granted a greater role in policymaking on migration issues, which are still often dominated by governments on both continents.

● Adebajo is director of the

Institute for Pan-African

Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg.