Cairo, Egypt, 14 September 2019- The African Union (AU) in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the Arab Republic of Egypt today launched the 5th  Pan African Forum on Migration (PAFOM) in Cairo under the theme: ‘Strengthening Migration Data and Research for evidence-based policy development and implementation towards effective migration governance in Africa’ to provide a more focused engagement with all relevant Migration stakeholders including Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU Member States, private sector, academia, parliamentarians, African diaspora community and civil society organizations in Africa and to discuss among others ways in strengthening continental, regional and national consultation mechanisms on Migration to enhance collaboration among African Union Member States, for sustainable Migration Governance in Africa.

The Pan African Forum on Migration opened officially by Amb. Ehab Fawzy, the Assistant Minster for Multilateral Organizations and International Security, who welcomed the participants of the forum on behalf of the government and people of Egypt. He further reiterated the importance of the meeting in order to promote a common understanding for migration issues in the continent. The Assistant Minister pointed out that the recommendations of the meeting of senior officials will be submitted to the ministerial meeting, which will take place on 16 September 2019. He also informed the meeting that Egypt will host in January 2020 the Global Forum on Migration.

In her keynote address, the Director of Social Affairs Department Mrs. Cisse Mariama thanked the Government of Egypt for hosting the meeting and supporting the participants and guests attending this meeting. She also thanked AU partners, specifically, ECA and IOM, who have been very handy in supporting AU Commission to organise the meeting and for their generous contribution in making this meeting a success. Mrs. Cisse thanked all the distinguished delegates from Member States, RECs, UN agencies, partners and other stakeholders represented in the meeting for finding time to join this African forum for Migration. ”Since its inception, the Forum has grown leaps and bounds to become a pinnacle for discussing key migration agenda and also supporting Member States, RECs and other participants in improving their migration governance “said Mrs Cisse

 She emphasized the need for the forum to be synchronized with political decision-making structures of the African Union. For the first time in the history of the PAFOM, Ministers have been invited to participate in the meeting. She said that the AU Commission believes that through the Ministerial participation, the recommendations of this and future meetings will have the relevant support by the highest political decision makers. The outcome report will also be submitted to the upcoming Specialized Technical Committee of Migration, Refugees and IDPs which is the AU Statutory Ministerial meeting for their validation. 

Mrs. Cisse underlined the need to invest in evidence-based continental migration trends and updates through improvement and investment in the collection, analysis and dissemination of accurate information and research on migration issues in the continent. “This, as noted in the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), will go a long way in providing evidence-based policy making and also shaping informed public discourse and narratives on African migration” added Mrs. Cisse.

Mrs. Cisse urged all partners to spare no efforts to bring every stakeholder on board at national, regional and continental levels to ensure that there is synergy in their work. “On our part, we will ensure that the proposed Migration Research Centre in Mali, the Migration Observatory in Morocco and the Continental Operational Centre in Khartoum Sudan are operational as soon as possible and work closely with existing continental and regional statistics centers in strengthening migration statists in Africa” concluded Mrs. Cisse.

The opening session also addressed by Amb. Aissata Kane, IOM Senior Regional Advisor for Sub-Saharan Africa who said that the forum reflects the efforts of the African Union in the field of migration, praising the achievements of the Union, especially the Protocol on Freedom of Movement and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

During the three-day meeting participants will be discussing the following sessions:

1. Strengthening Continental, Regional and National Consultation Mechanism on Migration to enhance collaboration among African Union Member States, for sustainable Migration Governance in Africa.
2. Migration Statistics in Africa: 
   
   1. Overview of the status of Migration Statistics in Africa including trends, gaps and opportunities;
   2. Addressing data collection and research gaps/ challenges in the prevention of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling in Persons (SOM) in Africa;
   3. Investing in research and data collection on the impact of Diaspora contribution to national, regional and continental sustainable development;
   4. Promoting Labor Migration statistics to enhance decent work and labor mobility;
   5. Strengthening research and data collection on transfer of remittances to strengthen its contribution to national, regional and continental sustainable development;
   6. Building synergy, collaboration and harmonization of African Migration Statistics Institutions at national, regional and continental levels;
   7. Establishment of national, regional and continental Migration database, depositories and Portal for information sharing.
3. The proposed PAFOM Terms of Reference (TORs) will be considered in this meeting, which provides a clear leadership and ownership opportunity by Member States and all stakeholders through defined predictable levels of participation, hosting criteria, funding of this forum.
4. Summary of Outcomes & Recommendations of the Meeting and decision on the hosting for the next PAFOM in 2020.

Member states presenters Participants at the first session of the Forum discussed ways of strengthening the continental, regional and national consultation mechanism on migration to enhance cooperation among AU Member States for sustainable migration management in Africa.

Participants stressed that with the increasing importance of migration and its role in shaping different aspects of the national, regional and continental agenda, there is a growing need on the African continent for dialogue to address the specific aspects of migration issues in Africa. They pointed out that the consultative mechanisms have contributed to strengthening cooperation and partnership between various actors and Member States, including the RECs and thus improving migration in Africa. They noted that although these standards may contribute to the promotion of good migration governance on the continent, there are still challenges such as  financing, sustainability and relevance to the national, regional and continental migration agenda

The expected outcome will include:

1.  Meeting Report with clear recommendation on strengthened migration data and research for evidence-based policy development and implementation towards effective migration governance in Africa;
2. Validated Road map on the establishment of national, regional and continental database, portal and depository on Migration Statistics in Africa; 
3. Establishment of the on Migration Statistics Working Group in African; to follow up on the issues of Migration Statistics in Africa including the implementation of the PAFOM 2019 Outcome Report on Migration Statistics and the Revised Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA II); and
4. Validated Draft Terms of Reference for PAFOM to guide on Chairing, hosting criteria, participation, funding and synergy with regional consultative mechanism, among other issues in future.
    

For information related to the meeting please contact:

Mr. Geoffrey Wafula Kundu | Program Coordinator (Migration), Social Affairs Department, African Union Commission | E- mail: GeoffreyK@africa-union.org 

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mr. Gamal Ahmed A. Karrar | Communications Officer, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | E- mail: GamalK@africa-union.org

For further information: Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org  I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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