‘Migrations in the Arab-African World’

The Forum, a follow-up of the August 2009 Regional Workshop on the Role of NGOs in Preventing the smuggling of Migrants, is to be held at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, Egypt. As part of the 4th International Conference, it will entirely be devoted to Arab-African migration. Notably, the August Workshop concluded that migrant smuggling poses a serious challenge and threat to states and societies of transit and destination, as well as to the migrants themselves who face violations of human rights in countries of origin, transit and destination. In its recommendations therefore, a rights based approach, a central role of national human rights bodies, was underscored.

UNESCO’s Moufida Goucha lets us in on the fact that the goal of PFAAD is to provide African and Arab States’ governments with information to help develop and implement policies more consistent with the reality of migration flows in these two regions. To this end, African and Arab experts on migration will hold two workshops: “National Migration Policies: Bringing Coherence in Immigration and Emigration Policies while respecting the Human Rights of Migrants” and “Inter-regional Migration and Regional Agreements on Human Movements”. A number of relevant issues will be addressed. They include transit migration, integration and protection of migrants, the international legal and normative framework of the rights of migrants, their political and labor rights, the ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Migrants Workers and their Families, permission to reside, to live, to work or to buy property, or the state of regional policies for managing international migration. In addition, participants will also discuss cooperation in the fight against irregular migration, (available avenues) to maximize the opportunities for regular migrants, failed transit migration, return migration, circular migration and remittances, the state of the African Charter on Democracy and Elections and Governance. The Forum will then be concluded with the adoption of a declaration and recommendations.

Organized by UNESCO and the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, it will be chaired by Vice President of the Arab League and former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. During an interview with Nfaly Savane while attending the first meeting of the Forum’s Committee in Paris in March 2009, Mr. Boutros-Ghali highlighted current statistics and stressed the need to strengthen South-South solidarity and confront common problems related to democracy, human rights and migration.

In attendance at the opening ceremony will be Suzanne Mubarak, First Lady of Egypt and Patron of the Forum, together with the Assistant director of UNESCO for Social and Human Sciences Pierre Sané and other high-level representatives of international and regional organizations, including UNCHCR, the African Union and the Pan African Parliament and the Arab Transitional Parliament. The latter group will also contribute to the discussions throughout the Forum.