The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is organizing a significant meeting on July 24-25 in Rabat, Morocco. This event, titled “Regular Pathways for Human Mobility,” is part of the Africa Pillar of IOM’s Africa-Europe Flagship Initiative. The goal is to facilitate the orderly movement of people within Africa and between Africa and Europe. This meeting aims to reach a consensus on the scope and implementation of the initiative, highlighting the importance of safe, orderly, and regular migration as a driver of sustainable development.
“Together, we embark on a journey filled with promise—a journey of bridging critical skills gaps, enhancing fiscal revenues, and empowering our greatest asset: human capital,” said IOM Deputy Director General for Operations Ugochi Daniels. Daniels emphasized that by establishing and expanding regular pathways, the IOM connects migrants to opportunities, harnessing positive migration and development outcomes for countries of origin, transit, and destination.
Africa has a young population, with 40% of its 1.4 billion people under the age of 15. By 2050, 62% of this population will be of working age. This demographic shift presents opportunities and challenges for the continent’s labor market development. The IOM Africa-Europe Flagship Initiative aims to enhance and nurture a comprehensive infrastructure for regular pathways, support regional integration, and facilitate the safe movement of people within and between continents. The initiative also explores and reinforces regional and bilateral cooperation to expand safe and regular pathways.
“Our objective is unequivocally clear: to transform these multipartite consultations into a unified and definitive African stance, taken by African countries participating in this initiative. By doing so, we aim to forge a singular, powerful, and cohesive voice that advocates for our shared interests on the critical issue of migration,” said Mr. Ismail Chekkori, Director of Global Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Residing Abroad. He stressed the importance of addressing both regional and global governance to enhance regular pathways between Africa and Europe.
The technical gathering provides participants with an open space to discuss the benefits and challenges of regular pathways, with IOM acting as a convenor to support African and European countries in finding a balanced approach to advance this important agenda. Participants will share experiences on progress and gaps in legislative, regulatory, and institutional mechanisms, and benefit from successful practices in migration.
“Facilitating regular migration pathways is crucial. Apart from better protecting the rights of migrants, regular mobility contributes to achieving their potential and enables them to contribute fully to the socio-economic development of the countries of destination, transit, and origin,” said Nathalie Fustier, UN Resident Coordinator in Morocco.
The meeting brings together around 100 participants, including senior officials from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, Togo, and Tunisia. Representatives from the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities, United Nations agencies, youth representatives, diaspora, and private sector organizations, including creative industries, are also participating.
Click here to join our WhatsApp channel to get latest news for & about migrants.