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East African Countries Urged to Harmonize Their Migration Policies

13:22, 19 November 2023

Rasina Musallimova

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IGAD unites 8 East African countries seeking to "promote regional cooperation and integration among member states" to "improve welfare of all citizens." Through specialized departments, the bloc fosters partnerships in various areas, such as social development and migration.

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Member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have been urged to coordinate their migration policies to ensure safe and organized migration in the East African region, Ethiopian state media ENA reported, citing Fathia Alwan, director of IGAD's health and social development division.

"We have been at the forefront in bringing member states together because migration is not the issue of one country. We want to see how our member states can actually work together, harmonize policies, and also address the issue of migration together," Alwan said on the sidelines of the validation workshop on the revised Migration Action Plan (MAP) 2024–2028, which was held in Ethiopia on November 15-16.

Among the priorities, outlined in the MAP 2024-2028, which was validated by the IGAD member states on November 15, are the protection of displaced persons and migrants in vulnerable situations; addressing human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change; strengthening regional and national migration governance architecture and others, the organization said.

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Sudan's IGAD Focal Person Ambassador Elhafiz Eisa, for his part, emphasized the importance of East Africa on the continent, given its location as a transit point for many migrants, and noted the need to work together so that to protect migrants, the media said.

"For this reason, we need to join our hands to protect them as member states with the concerned department to facilitate their migration from the country of origin through the country of transit until they reach the country of their last destination. To do this, we need to exert effort sincerely with the concerned department," he emphasized.

The significance of joint efforts on the issue was also highlighted by Rahab Mwangi from the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, the outlet revealed.

"It is an issue that requires intergovernmental organizations or our neighbors to work together in cooperation. We continue to support the mechanisms that exist through IGAD and UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], and we continue to work hand in hand with those agencies to keep supporting them," she stated.

According to IGAD, the number of international migrants in the region rose from 3.1 million people in 2010 to 6.5 million in 2019. The annual migration growth rate is 7.4%.