Rabat – Participants in the North Africa Regional Ministerial Conference, held Thursday 18th April by Morocco and Togo under the theme “Pan-Africanism and Migration”, commended the role and strong commitment of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in His capacity as Champion of the African Union on migration.
In the “Rabat Declaration” endorsed by this online meeting, as a prelude to the 9th Pan-African Congress, scheduled from October 29 to November 2, 2024 in Lomé around the theme “Renewal of Pan-Africanism and the role of Africa in the reform of multilateral institutions: mobilizing resources and reinventing to act”, the speakers welcomed the Royal commitment to devise and implement the African Agenda on Migration, putting forward a new vision in managing African migrations and governance in Africa.
The efforts of the Togolese Republic and the High Committee in charge of the 2021-2031 Agenda of the “Decade of African Roots and the African Diaspora” aimed at supporting African diasporas in a logic of co-development and shared growth, were also welcomed. They also welcomed the relevance of the theme “Pan-Africanism and Migration” of this regional conference in Rabat.
The participants also welcomed the current interest in a renewed Pan-Africanism which will contribute to further uniting the initiatives of African countries and other stakeholders as well as mobilizing them around noble and common causes, emphasizing the need to strengthen cooperation, integration and unity of action in Africa in order to promote better migration governance.
On this occasion, they recalled the importance for African countries to align their national migration management strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 of the African Union, calling for strengthening the role of Regional Economic Communities as central stakeholders of in actions of the African diaspora on the continent.
Reaffirming the important role of the African Union for orderly and coordinated management of migration by establishing a series of mechanisms including the Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA) and its Action Plan 2018-2030, they recognize the progress made at the global level since the adoption, in Marrakech, on December 10, 2018, of the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” (GCM), as well as by the United Nations General Assembly, on December 19, 2018 , and intended to cover international migrations in all their dimensions through a global and exhaustive approach.
Regarding Pan-Africanism, Migration and Governance, participants called for working in the interest of the continent by encouraging African countries to strengthen their regional cooperation to better manage migratory flows through Regional Economic Communities (RECs), by devising harmonized policies and coordination mechanisms on migration and governance.
They also called for mobilizing the means necessary to bring about narrative change on human mobility and migration, while maintaining close and proximity contact with the different generations of migrants and Afro-descendants.
The Rabat Declaration further called for mobilizing migrants and Afro-descendants as part of the renewal of Pan-Africanism around the reform of multilateral institutions and better representation of Africa in global governance, while reiterating the need for the Continent to equip itself with reliable and verifiable data on migratory flows and trends in Africa.
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