The African Union on Friday established the African Migration Observatory in Morocco, as an AU organ, to address the real and pressing need for Africa to generate knowledge and better understand the migration phenomenon.
The idea of this new mechanism is to help develop, through reliable and accurate data on migration, clear, effective and realistic migration policies and programs as suggested by King Mohammed VI of Morocco during the organization’s 30th summit in 2018 in the framework of the African Agenda on Migration.
The proposal was endorsed by African Heads of State and Government at the 31st AU Summit that was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania in July 2018.
The shortcomings and scarcity of data on migration have limited the capacity of the African Union (AU) Member States to conceive coherent migration policies.
Furthermore, the informal character of migratory movements, the porosity of borders and the complexity of the collection of data on human mobility at the continental level, going from and to Africa, have made the management of migratory movements very difficult, the AU said in a statement.
The African Migration Observatory will have the mission to facilitate the implementation of the Marrakesh global compact on migration through data collection and the promotion of continental and international cooperation in the field of migration and strengthening the contribution of migration to sustainable development.
It is expected to improve the overall migration governance regime in Africa, and to serve as the African tool to address migratory data deficiencies on the Continent, and guide African countries in the elaboration of evidence-based migration policies.
MG/abj/APA