On Friday, International Migrants Day, the African Union (A.U.) launched the African Migration Observatory (AMO) in Rabat, Morocco.
The inauguration was presided over by the A.U.’s Commissioner for Social Affairs, H.E. Mrs. Amira Elfadil, and Moroccan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nasser Bourita.
The platform is part of the A.U.’s strategies to come up with better migration policies and plans. It will be tasked with linking African countries and gathering essential data to improve migration policies.
Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, said that this would help overrule certain migration myths based on Africa’s data.
Objectives of the AMO
First, it is aimed at advancing Africa’s knowledge base on mobility and migration.
It also aims to give the continent centralized migration data to assist in programming, research, policy formulation, and migration governance.
Besides, it will provide evidence for Africa’s migration policies and interventions.
Lastly, it will help harmonize pre-existing African migration initiatives such as Khartoum’s Continental Operational Center, Mali’s African Center for Study and Research on Migration, and Tunisia’s African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC).
Need for an observatory
Africa’s migration usually is within the continent. According to figures released by Morocco, only 12 percent of African migrants are reported to go to Europe, while about 80 percent remain in the continent. The remaining 8 percent go elsewhere.
In the African continent, the key destination for migrants in South Africa has a total of 3.1 million arrivals. The other popular destinations are Nigeria and Ivory Coast.
Notably, illegal migrations to Europe have gradually reduced with the Europen Union tightening its migration policies. Frontex, a European agency, reported that in 2019 there was a 92 percent decline in the number of migrants compared to the peak in 2015. Moreover, the first eight months of 2020 have experienced a further drop of 14 percent.
Consequently, most people have been left with only the option of migrating within the continent.
The A.U. will open two other bodies to analyze Africa’s migration.
MORE:
