Experts meet to fine-tune messages for the African migration report ahead of High-Level Panel meeting

ABIDJAN, SEPT. 19 – A two-day meeting of the technical committee of the High-Level Panel on Migration in Africa (HLPM) opened today at the headquarters of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The technical experts will review preliminary research reports that highlight a number of relevant issues in preparation for the next meeting of the High-Level Panel, scheduled to take place from 16-17 October 2018.

The meeting will specifically review three research reports on: Trends, policies and frameworks on international migration in Africa; Evaluation of African migration-related frameworks, agreements, treaties and protocols; and Regional Integration and Economic Development in Africa.

The expert meeting will identify key advocacy messages emerging from these reports that will guide the work of the HLPM and review the Panel’s work programme for the period October-December 2018.

According to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and Chair of the HLPM, “…the report of the Panel will not only focus on the two imperatives of economic growth and migrants’ rights, but also on the perception versus the reality of migration’. The report’s recommendations will focus on specific actions needed at the national level “to drive leaders to take action.”

Once endorsed by relevant African Union (AU) decision-making bodies, including the Executive Council, the HLPM report will be submitted to the AU Heads of State and Government Summit

The HLPM was set up in January 2017 and is made up of 16 eminent members from around the world, from government, the private sector, academia, and civil society. One of the core mandates of the Panel is to work in consultation with relevant constituencies at national, regional and global levels to come up with recommendations on how to build and sustain broad political consensus on an implementable international migration development agenda. The HLPM will advocate and support ongoing global and continental processes like the Global Compact on Migration, Free Movement of Persons Protocol, Migration Policy Framework for Africa and others relevant framework. – contributed