The concept of continental free movement is central for the African Union (AU). The preamble of the 1991 Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty) recognizes migrants regardless of their place of residence as an integral part of the national human resources.
The promotion of employment, improvement of labour market and mobility of skills in ECOWAS region fall within the framework of the implementation of the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in its three stages - entry, residence, and establishment - the details of which are set out in four additional protocols.
The main function of the Employment and Labour Sector (ELS) within the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Secretariat is to facilitate and coordinate the development, harmonisation, and monitoring of the implementation of policies and programmes on employment and labour matters within the context of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan.
The specific Objectives of the Employment and Labour Sector Programme are to:
The World Bank developed the GCFF financing mechanism to support middle-income countries receiving refugees through beneficial loans. Currently, GCFF supports Jordan and Lebanon, which has received a large number of Syrian refugees. The facility has also been expanded to provide support for other middle-income countries receiving refugees (the global window).
The Free Movement and Migration (FMM) West Africa project seeks to support the development of standardized procedures to collect and process migration-relevant data. The project also supports the ECOWAS Commission in the development of a regional migration profile, providing an overview of migration data and trends in the ECOWAS region.
The Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada was formed so that provincial-level evaluation and assessment services of credentials for skilled immigrants are standardized.
The Alliance is made up of credential assessment services from across Canada. Alliance members provide a variety of clients — such as employers, professional regulatory bodies and educational institutions — with the assistance they require and the quality assurance they demand in assessing the academic credentials of prospective applicants.
The Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) is one of the five pillars of the African Peace and Security architecture (APSA).
The CEWS is responsible for data collection and analysis and is mandated to collaborate with “the UN, its agencies, other relevant international organizations, research centres, academic institutions and NGOs” with its information to be used by the Chairperson of the Commission” to advise the Peace and Security Council (PSC), on potential conflicts and threats to peace and security in Africa and recommend the best course of action.”
This policy framework provides a progressive vision for the African continent to maximise the benefits of well-managed international migration, through a strategic, modern, integrated and risk-based approach, while minimising the associated risks. It builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.
Khartoum Process brings together 40 European, Horn of Africa and Mediterranean African countries, the European External Action Service, the European Commission, the African Union Commission and seven regional organisations, with a view to preventing and tackling the challenges of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants between the Horn of Africa and Europe, in a spirit of partnership, shared responsibility and cooperation.
Khartoum Process is led by a Steering Committee comprised of:
The Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) it is the world’s first continental instrument that legally binds governments to protect the rights and wellbeing of people forced to flee their homes by conflict, violence, disasters and human rights abuses. The convention is a shared framework, but the continent’s diverse realities and challenges mean that individual countries have taken different approaches to it.
The objectives of this Convention are to