Following the African Union-European Union summit on migration which was held at Valletta, Malta; member states of the African Union (AU) and relevant policy partners are meeting in Kenya to figure out a comprehensive approach that will help domesticate the Valletta outcome. This includes aligning the AU initiatives on migration with the post-Valletta action plan and the China-Africa forum on Migration.
It was important to hold the 2-day as 20 AU Member States and 6 Regional Economic Communities (RECs) were not invited to the AU-EU Valletta summit.
The Nairobi consultation therefore provides a forum for all 54 AU Member States and RECs to discuss the Migration Agenda and identify key priority areas that require immediate action in the short and medium term within the framework of AU policies and programs and Assembly Declaration (Assembly/AU/Decl.6 (XXV)) on Migration at the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg in June 2015, as well as other relevant instruments such as the Valletta Action Plan which was built around 5 broad areas of focus. The areas of focus are: Development, legal migration and mobility, international protection and Asylum, fight against irregular migration, migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings as well as return and remission.
Importantly, the post-Valletta meeting will feature two working groups targeting the development and irregular migration component within the Valletta action plan and how they fit into the relevant AU initiatives such as the Joint Labour Migration Programme, the Joint Africa Youth Employment initiative, the AU Horn of Africa Initiative on human trafficking and migrant smuggling (AU-HOAI) and the AU commission initiative against Trafficking (AU COMMIT). These working groups will bring new dynamics for broader discussions and develop recommendations for effective implementation.
At the end of the post-Valletta meeting, participants hope to agree on a set of actions at national, regional and continental levels that would give effect to or operationalise the key AU instruments, programs and decisions; identify high-impact projects that could be realistically implemented in 2016 in the management of migration; and also enhance a common understanding of all available funding instruments – including the EU Trust Fund for Migration – that can be used to advance the AU migration agenda.
Present at the post-Valletta meeting are senior policy officials directly connected with or responsible for migration issues in African Union Member States including officials of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) working on labour, employment and migration issues; relevant civil society organisations, social partners and Diaspora organisations and partner organisations including UNDP, IOM, ILO, UNHCR, AfDB, ACBC, League of Arab States, ICMP, EU, UNODC, UNECA, NEPAD, INTERPOL.
The post-Valletta meeting is supported by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), United Nations Development Office (UNDP) and International Labour Organisation (ILO).