• Overall objectives
• Issues for dialogue
• Related initiatives
• Further reading

Overall objectives

The ‘migration and mobility’ strand of the Africa-EU Partnership on Migration, Mobility and Employment aims to provide comprehensive responses to migration, in the interest of all partners, with a particular focus on facilitating mobility and free movement of people in Africa and the EU, on better managing legal migration between the two continents, on addressing the root causes of migration and refugee flows, on the fair treatment of all migrants under applicable international law, on finding concrete solutions to problems posed by irregular migration flows and trafficking of human beings and to ensure that migration and mobility work for development. All these orientations should be addressed in a balanced and comprehensive way.

Issues for dialogue

The term ‘migration’ can be understood as follows: “[…] the crossing of the boundary of a political or administrative unit for a certain minimum period of time. It includes the movement of refugees, displaced persons, uprooted people as well as economic migrants. Internal migration refers to a move from one area (a province, district or municipality) to another within one country. International migration is a territorial relocation of people between nation-states.”  (UNESCO glossary)

The concept of ‘mobility’ in the framework of the partnership refers in particular to the free movement of people within Africa and the EU, and circular migration between Africa and the EU.

In the area of migration and mobility the agenda for dialogue is informed by the Joint Africa-EU Strategy agreed in Lisbon in December 20074, as well as the Declaration of the 2006 Tripoli Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development, the EU-Africa Plan of Action on Trafficking in Human Beings, especially Women and Children.

The 2011-2013 agenda for dialogue includes topics such as:

• diasporas, remittances, brain drain, migrant rights, social consequences of migration; [link to subsection 1_1 ‘migration and development’]
• regular migration, including circular migration, mobility, visa issues, [link to subsection 1_2 ‘mobility and circular migration’]
• illegal migration, trafficking in human beings, smuggling of migrants, readmission and return, [link to subsection 1_3 ‘irregular migration] and
• refugees, asylum and protection [link to subsection 1_2 ‘asylum’]

The political dialogue on human rights intensifies, and includes social, economic and cultural rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Both parties notably exchange views on lessons learnt and best practices on the implementation of existing relevant human rights instruments, as well as international humanitarian law instruments.

This dialogue also address issues related to sex trade, sex tourism and cheap labour. The dialogue on visa issues will look at conditions and procedures for delivery of visa, and facilitating mobility for commercial, professional and study reasons.

Related initiatives

The 2011-2013 Action Plan envisages a series of targeted initiatives in the area of migration.

In the field of migration and development, two specific initiatives are intended to foster the role of the diaspora and remittances for development. More about the Diaspora Outreach initative, the African Remittances Institute and other migration and development related initiatives [link to chapter under subsection]

A specific initiative will target the fight against human trafficking. More about the Human Trafficking initiative and other irregular migration-related initiatives [link to chapter under subsection]

Circular migration and mobility, as well as international protection are addressed through various inter-regional, national or bilateral initiatives. More about regular migration and mobility-related intiatives [link to chapter under subsection] and asylum-related initiatives [link to chapter under subsection]

The issue of data collection is of particular importance to develop and adapt policies in this area. Initiatives in this area include the ACP Migration Observatory that will create a network of researchers and research centres to provide policy makers, civil society and the public at large with reliable and harmonised migration data.

Further reading

Milestones of the EU-African migration dialogue

• Joint Africa-EU Declaration on Migration and Development adopted at the EU-Africa Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development held in Tripoli (22-23 November 2006)
• Second Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development held in Paris (25 November 2008).
• Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and Developmentt held in Rabat (10-11 July 2006) resulted in the adoption of the Rabat Action Plan. http://www.maec.gov.ma/migration/Fr/documentation.htm

AU/ EU legislation and policy documents

AU policies include the following:

• AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa
• African Common Position on Migration and Development

EU strategies, action plans, Council conclusions, Commission Communications, adopted legislation and other background information are available in the EC DG Home documentation centre. See also:

• EU 2011-2015 action plan in the area of Justice and Home Affairs (The Stockholm Programme- an Open and Secure Europe Serving and Protecting Citizens (European Council, 2010)
• Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme (EC Communication 20.04.2010)
• European Pact on Immigration and Asylum (European Council, 2008)
• Strengthening the Global Approach to Migration: Increasing coordination, coherence and synergies (EC Communication 08.10.2008)
• A Common Immigration Policy for Europe: Principles, actions and tools (EC Communication 17.06.2008)               

Sources for information and data collection

The ACP Migration Observatory gathered 175 documents  in an online capacity‐building compendium : data management, the civil society, diasporas, remittances, health, labour migration, irregular migration, cross‐border movements, urbanization, environmentally‐induced migration, mainstreaming and policy development, human trafficking, refugees and IDPs, gender, human rights, children, private sector and media.

In Africa, national migration profiles are currently being developed by State authorities with the support of international organisation and projects such as:

• The International Organisation for Migration has developed migration profiles of West and Central African countries (2009).
• The CARIM project is developing migration profiles for North Africa and neighboring countries.

In Europe, a project called ‘Prominstat’ compiles statistical information on migration, integration and discrimination in 27 European countries. Its website lists a series of useful statistical databases, including the EU statistics agency Eurostat that collects data on migration flows and migrant stocks and publishes harmonised statistics on asylum applications and decisions. The I-MAP project displays public information on migration routes and flows and secured detailed information to representatives of partner states and agencies in Europe and partner countries in Africa.

Other sources of information besides academic institutions include the following UN bodies:

• United Nations Population Division has created the “Global Migration Database” which includes all publicly available tabulations on the international migrant stock (http://esa.un.org/unmigration/) as well as a “Trends in Total Migrant Stock database” with quinquennial estimates of the international migrant stock (http://esa.un.org/migration/).
• UNHCR has compiled annual data on refugee stocks, flows, and characteristics.
• The International Labour Organisation has a Database on International Labour Migration Statistics.
• The World Bank collects data on remittances. See the 2011 migration and remittances factbook.