By Allieu S. Tunkara
Officials from various public and private sector institutions have reviewed the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to ensure a comprehensive document that will ensure a safe and regular migration.
The consultations that led to the review were done in accordance with the Whole-Of-Government approach, and with the participation of all relevant stakeholders also in accordance with the Whole-Of -Society approach of the GCM.
Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, Civil Society Organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations, Academic, Scientific and knowledge-based institutions, the private sector migrant and youth groups, parliamentarians and others were represented in the review process.
The GCM is an expression of collective commitment to improving cooperation on international migration to ensure a safe, orderly and regular migration.
The review of the documents takes stock of overall progress made about the GCM implementation, identification of key challenges, opportunities, gaps and emerging issues.
It also looks at promising practices and lessons learned related to the implementation of the GCM, national priorities and potential areas for regional cooperation on international migration in line with the GCM’s vision and guiding principles.
Compilation of relevant resources and identification of needs for the full and effective implementation of the GCM at the national level among others were also key points for discussions.
Very important personalities including the UN Resident Coordinator, Dr Babatunde Ahonsi, Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Cooperation, Mr Duwai Sellu Lungay and Head of IOM in Sierra Leone, Dr James Bagonza.
In his speech at the opening of the deliberations, Dr Ahonsi informed the audience that more than 150 countries were represented by heads of governments in a conference at Marrakech in Morocco in 2018 to adopt the GCM.
The document, he went on, was endorsed by the UN General Assembly nine days after the Morocco Conference.
Since it adoption, Dr Ahonsi said, very key milestones had been achieved in the area of international migration.
Development of a migration and labour policies, a review of the Anti-Human trafficking Act, 2005, dedication of cluster-6 in the National Medium-Term Development Plan, 2019-2023, development of a National Action Plan to combat trafficking in persons 2020-2023 were some of the achievements.
The establishment of youth empowerment initiatives, vocational skills training and entrepreneurship programmes among others were also another set of milestones recorded since the policy was adopted thus calling for a commitment to find solutions together.
The strides are great, he says, but despite the successes some challenges still remain.
The adoption of the global compact, he says, marks the first time that UN member states committed to a comprehensive, 360-degree vision of international migration, grounded on international law, and turns their international commitments into concrete actions to enhance international cooperation on all aspects of international migration.
“In a world where 1 out of every 7 people on the planet is a migrant; where 1 out of every 10 migrants is under the age of 15, and where as many as 258 million people are international migrants, the time has come for the world to regard migration as a phenomenon to be managed rather than wished away,” Dr Ahonsi Urged.
The adoption of the GCM, he said, opened a new chapter in the era of migrant protection thereby encouraging states to formulate migration-friendly policies that uphold human rights of migrants while unleashing the latent economic benefits which prudent migration governance can engender.
He is of the opinion that with such acknowledgement, untapped potentials that a well-managed migration can bring to humankind would be unlocked.
International migrants in Africa, he went on, increased from 15 million in 2000 to 26.5 million in 2019 reflecting a 76 per cent increase.
“Africa has been recently perceived as a continent on the move, with people escaping poverty, environmental disaster or violent conflict,” he emphasised.
The situation, Dr Ahonsi says, is not too different for Sierra Leone noting that 75 per cent of the population is under the age of 35, and recent estimates suggest that between 8,000 and 10,000 young people annually embark on irregular migration with over a quarter being trafficked.
This group, he says, includes children and women trafficked for forced and labour sex work.
“In 2019 alone, IOM Sierra Leone assisted to bring back 1,922 stranded migrants from North Africa, the Sahel and the Middle East,” he emphasised.
These migrants, he went on, shares stories of kidnapping, detention, forced labour, physical and sexual abuse as well as being sold or abandoned with many still suffering the psychological trauma.
Despite the evils associated with international migration, Dr Ahonsi does not lose sight of the benefits a safe and orderly migration brings to a country.
“Every challenge represents an opportunity. Evidence-based research has demonstrated that international migration requires an enhanced cooperation among nations,” he emphasised.
International migration, Dr Ahonsi says, can bring significant contribution to the economic growth and human development in Africa.
He also sees multilateralism and collaboration as factors that need to be the driving force of policies being set notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19 on global mobility.
In his contribution, Head of UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Dr James Bagonza said migration had always been part of the human experience throughout history noting that it was recognised as a source of prosperity, innovation and sustainable development in a globalized world.
“With these, positive impacts can be optimized by improving migration governance,” he said.
Dr Bagonza also informed the audience that African countries have embraced a state-led approach to its implementation, regularly consulting with the African Union Commission, the United Nations Network on Migration and relevant stakeholders at national and international level.
The Deputy Director-General, Duwai Sellu Lungay who represented Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC) at the review process also made few remarks.
In his address, he told the audience that the GCM was framed and consistent with target 10.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in which member states committed themselves to cooperate internationally to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration as defined in Annex-2 of the New York Declaration.
The document, he says, addresses all aspects of international migration including the humanitarian, developmental aspects as well as human rights among others.
GCM, he says, also makes an important contribution to global governance and enhance coordination on international migration as well as presenting a framework for comprehensive international cooperation on migrants and human mobility.
The document, he says, sets out a range of actionable commitments, means of implementation and a framework for follow-up and reviews among member states regarding international migration in all its dimensions.
Mr Lungay described the document as the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement prepared under the auspices of the United Nations covering all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
He spoke about the non-binding nature of the document, but equally does not lose sight of the right of sovereign states to know who enters and stays on its territories.
“Although it is a non-binding document that respects the sovereign rights of states as to who enters and stays in their territory, it nevertheless demonstrates commitment to international cooperation on migration, and to strengthen the contributions of migrants and migration to sustainable development,” Dr Lungay told participants.
Trends in migration, he continues, have shown that there are millions of migrants around the world living outside their countries of birth.
He also notes that the trend is expected to grow owing to a number of factors including overall population growth, increasing connectivity, trade, rising inequality, demographic imbalances and climate change among others.
The MFAIC Director-General also sees migration as a global phenomenon affecting all regions and peoples, and serves to characterise an evolving global landscape whilst equally connecting individual societies.
Migration, he says, has also undertaken to re-awaken distinct geographical needs that have become apparent, realistic but also complex as countries strive to tackle the emerging challenges confronting the national but also international agenda of priorities with regard to migrants and refugees.
Mr Lungay further notes that the GCM offers a sweeping view of international migration and recognises that a holistic approach is needed to optimize the overall benefits of migration whilst addressing risks and challenges for individuals and communities in countries of origin, transit and destination.
He also views the GCM as an intiative that seeks to mitigate structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods as well as reducing risks and vulnerabilities migrants face at various stages, whilst equally introducing re-integration mechanisms to facilitate their contributions to sustainable development at the local, national, regional and global levels.
The DG also made reference to the dire situation confronting the youths in Sierra Leone.
“Sierra Leone has a youthful and bourgeoning population yearning for a more productive and better living standard. Over the years, our youths have seen the need to seek gainful employment elsewhere, and to seek greener pastures due to lack of an incentivized structure that does not make way for them to secure meaningful jobs…that would be beneficial to them and their families,” he said.
Owing to such a situation, he went on, many youths have embarked on perilous journeys abroad, and most of them in the process encountered bitter experiences that have left debilitating impressions especially on vulnerable groups: Young women and children.
“This is why the issue of migration is captured as a major cluster in the National Development Plan of the President, and continues to be a major focus in line with the human capital development agenda of the Government of Sierra Leone,” he concludes.