Expanded Work On Migration In Developing Countries …

• October 25th, 2010
• Posted by EUEditor

The European Union is this week launching, and funding a new program to help coordinate migration among African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, with a pilot scheme to include Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.

BETTER MANAGEMENT OF MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The initiative is being called the African, Caribbean and Pacific Observatory on Migration, to start work with a budget of   € 9.4 million (A$13.366-million; xe.com, 25.10.10), after the official launch in Brussels  today (Monday 25.10.10), with the EU Development Commissioner,  Andris Piebalgs, officiating.

A preview statement from the Commissioner described the initiative as better management of “South-South” migration among developing countries, in their own regions – usually overshadowed by concentration on North-South movements in global migration patterns.

“This new body will provide reliable data and information on migration flows.

“The objective is to design better policies to enhance the migration contribution to development”, he said.

It would cover all six areas designated as “development regions” in the on-going cooperation between the EU and developing countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific – called the “ACP process”

TWELVE COUNTRIES IN EARLY START

It would start in twelve pilot countries, namely Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Papua-New-Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, Timor-Leste and Trinidad and Tobago.

“The number of people migrating from a Southern country to another is extremely important and has impact on development. The ACP Observatory will help us to have a clearer view on these migratory flows and to shape adequate policies”, Mr  Piebalgs said.

It would aim to plug gaps in information about population movements, which was often scarce and unreliable — to improve policy making.

At present, in many countries, migrants’ needs were not being properly taken into account, he said.

LABOUR MIGRATION, FORCED MIGRATION, HEALTH CARE, REMITTANCES, BRAIN DRAIN …
There’d be a focus on key topics such as labour migration, migration and health, remittances, brain drain/gain, forced migration and climate change.

The scheme will be based on setting up cooperation networks among research institutions, private researchers and government agencies.

The European Union  links its development cooperation to standards of governance, including support for democratic practices, with an ultimate objective to reduce poverty – and it says it is aiming to integrate the handling of migration into that process.

Various migration pressures exist in the Pacific region, in Papua New Guinea with long-term exchanges across the land border with Indonesian Papua,  movements  across Torres Strait to Northern  Australia, arrivals from  Asia, and the campaign for a  large-scale, short-term  working visa agreement with Australia and New Zealand

Reference

EC, Brussels,  Launch of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Observatory on Migration: European Commission supports improved South-South migration management, 22.10.10.  IP/10/1370.

Picture   Markets at Madang, PNG

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