MEDIA ADVISORY AFRICAN CONSULTATIONS ON MIGRATION Factoring in Outcomes of the Valetta Summit on Migration NAIROBI, KENYA 14-15 DECEMBER 2015 INVITATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA Where & When: The regional meeting will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 15 December 2015 with preconsultations among partners on 13 December 2015. The Venue is the UN Conference Center. The meeting will take place under the leadership of African Union Commission with the support of UNDP, ILO and IOM. Objective: The Nairobi consultations are designed to provide a forum for all 54 AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to discuss the Migration Agenda and identify key priority areas that require immediate action in the short and medium term within the framework of AU policies and programs and Assembly Declaration (Assembly/AU/Decl.6(XXV)) on Migration at the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg in June 2015, as well as other relevant instruments such as the Valletta Action Plan. Expected Outcomes: • Agree on a set of actions at national, regional and continental levels that would give effect to or operationalize the key AU instruments, programs and decisions. • Identify high impact projects that could be realistically implemented in 2016 in the management of migration. • Enhance a common understanding of all available funding instruments - including the EU Trust Fund for Migration - that can be used to advance the AU migration agenda. Participants: • Senior policy officials directly connected with or responsible for migration issues in AU Member States; • Officials of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) working on labour, employment and migration issues; • Relevant civil society organisations, social partners and diaspora organisations; • Partner organizations including UNDP, IOM, ILO, UNHCR, AfDB, ACBC, League of Arab States, ICMP, EU, UNODC, UNECA, NEPAD, INTERPOL and relevant international entities Background: Mixed migration flows from and within Africa have become growing phenomenon occupying policy makers in and outside the continent. These flows triggered by various socio-political factors have various destinations and are characterized by their complex nature. However, it is important to note that the vast majority of African migrants still move within Africa and this dynamics has expanded significantly over the last decades with even more impressive rates within the AU RECs. For more than a decade, the African Union Commission has been engaged in providing policy guidance on Migration and working closely with its Member States to address critical migration issues. The various AU policy frameworks and instruments on the issue contain recommendations on how to promote the benefits of migration, improve capacity for migration management and enhance mobility on the continent as well as address the challenges of irregular migration. As recently as the 25th AU Summit in Johannesburg, AU leaders deliberated extensively on how to effectively manage migration by committing to achieve a comprehensive range of issues by 2018, including to: speed up the implementation of continent wide visa free regimes including issuance of visas at ports of entry for Africans; expedite the operationalization of the African Passport that would as a start facilitate free movement of persons that will be issued by Member States; improve labour mobility by establishing harmonized mechanism thereby ensuring that higher education in Africa is compatible, comparable to enable recognition of credentials that will facilitate transferability of knowledge, skills and expertise; and operationalize existing action plans to combat Human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. Attached the Provisional Agenda for the consultations. Interview requests should be addressed to Mr. Gamal Ahmed A. Karrar | Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission (AUC) | E-mail: gamalk@africa-union.org / gamal90@gmail.com For more information please contact: Mr. Phillip Jusu, Department of Social Affairs, African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Tel. + 251-1155182216 /+251923297366 Email: jusup@africa-union.org (cc: TigistZ@africa-union.org). Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia Follow us Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission Learn more at: http://www.au.int For further information contact Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia Follow us Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission