Migration

Photo: Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia. Credit: IOM – UN Migration

Continuous Influx of Eritrean Refugees Challenges Ethiopia

Viewpoint by Kristina Melicherová

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Refugee and host communities in Ethiopia came together on June 20 to commemorate World Refugee Day through various cultural activities, organized within refugee camps as well as urban settings. But the reality behind the festivities is that hundreds of Eritrean refugees continue to cross the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia every day.

Despite the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, signed in July 2018, the internal situation and oppression of Eritrean people, mainly through the indefinite military service, remains intact. The continued inflow of young Eritreans fleeing oppression is putting strain on Ethiopia’s refugee camps.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 June 2019

Photo: Geneva Centre debates 'Migration and Human Solidarity'. Credit: Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue.

Experts Slate 'Fortress Europe' and Push-Back Policies

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA (IDN) – Experts with first-hand experience in the migrant and refugee crisis have underlined problems during their work on the ground, in coordinating rescue operations and aid distribution, or documenting and raising awareness of the situation caused by the current massive displacement of people worldwide turning into a politicized crisis of solidarity, with closed border policies and the rise of xenophobic, populist trends.

: Ronald Joshua; SUSTAINABILITY; Reduced Inequalities; 27 April 2019

Photo: Three young children wait to be evacuated from Libya to Niger, at UNHCR’s Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli. © UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem

Fighting in Tripoli Throws Refugees Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

By Klara Smits

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Multiple independent sources report that at least three people were killed and around 20 injured in an attack on the Qasr bin Ghashir detention centre in southern Tripoli. The attack seemed specifically aimed at the refugees and migrants in the centre, according to witnesses who say that the rebel militia fighters of General Khalifa Haftar were behind the attack.

Reports say that after a brief lull, the fighting around Libya’s capital Tripoli has intensified in the past week. In the southern districts of Tripoli, forces loyal to the UN-recognised Tripoli-based government clashed with the forces of General Khalifa Haftar.

: Klara Smits; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 26 April 2019

Photo: Sengalese at cultural parade in Harlem in New York. Photo: Alamy | Richard Levine | Source: Africa Renewal.

African Migrants Strive to Preserve Their Cultural Heritage

By Sharon Birch-Jeffrey*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To experience a taste of African culture deep inside the Big Apple, visitors – including many Senegalese – turn to Le Petit Senegal (Little Senegal), a West African neighborhood in West Harlem, New York.

African grocery shops, fabric stores, hair braiding parlors and regional restaurants sit shoulder to shoulder along the streets. The Sandaga Market of Little Senegal showcases a strong blend of African cultures, customs and languages, symbolizing efforts by African immigrants to project and protect their cultural identities.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 April 2019

Photo: Ashraf El Nour, Director of IOM Office to UN New York addressing the UN Security Council Meeting on the "Maintenance of international peace and security: Trafficking of persons in conflict situations" on 21 November 2017.

Migration Is a Great Opportunity to Africa and Host Countries

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Contrary to the widespread view coloured by the too-common images of young African migrants crossing the Mediterranean, migration in Africa is dominated by Africans moving within Africa, says Ashraf El Nour, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN in New York.

They migrate mostly to neighbouring countries, or within the same region. Africa's share of global migration, which on the whole stood at 258 million in 2017, are 36 million people of which 19 million moved within the continent and 17 million outside Africa, El Nour told Africa Renewal's Zipporah Musau.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 December 2018

Photo: A glimpse of Brussels conference participants. Credit: Eritrea Press

EU Urged to Evacuate Eritreans from Libyan 'Death Camps'

By Ramesh Jaura

BRUSSELS (IDN) – When the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed in July a peace deal after two decades of war and ensuing violent border clashes, "a new era of peace and friendship" was felt to have begun in the Horn of Africa comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Six months on, African leaders and close observers of the situation in the region, attending the Eritrean diaspora conference in Brussels, have expressed grave concern that "peace and friendship" have yet to dawn on relations between the government in Asmara and Eritreans.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 December 2018

Photo: High Atlas Foundation works in rural areas of Morocco to target the most marginalized communities. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Participatory Development is a Humane Alternative to Migration

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir and Manon Burbidge

While Yossef Ben-Meir, Ph.D. is a sociologist and President of the High Atlas Foundation, based in Marrakech, Manon Burbidge is a post-graduate studying Human Ecology at Lund University, Sweden and currently interning at the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – December 2018 is gearing up to be a pivotal month for migration on the world stage, and the epicentre is here, in Marrakech, Morocco, with two high-level fora taking place concerning development and migration.

However, in order for the discussions that take place at such conferences to be impactful on the lives of ordinary people.

: Africa & ME Editor; UN INSIDER; 12 December 2018

Photo: Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration Conference Site, Bab Ighli, Marrakech, Morocco © UN Photo/Mark Garten

European Parliament Hails the Global Compact for Migration

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) regret "the campaign of disinformation" that has led to several countries withdrawing their support from the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). They emphasize that the migration compact is a non-legally binding framework that does not create new obligations for states and is in full respect of the principle of national sovereignty.

164 out of the 193 member states of the UN that had gathered in Marrakech approved the Compact by consensus on December 10, defying the United States and other countries that had withdrawn, citing concerns about migrant flows and national sovereignty.

: Robert Johnson; UN INSIDER; 11 December 2018

Photo: The first migrants from the Aquarius ship arrive at the port of Valencia on an Italian ship, the Dattilo, June 2018. Credit: UNHCR

Migration a Major Issue in EU's Relations with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As the United Nations Global Compact fractures, migration has become a key issue in negotiations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) which kicked off in September 2018 to hammer out a successor to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement set to expire in 2020.

The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou, Benin, on June 23, 2000, was concluded for a 20-year period from 2000 to 2020. It is the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU. In 2010, ACP-EU cooperation was adapted to new challenges such as climate change, food security, regional integration, State fragility and aid effectiveness.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 09 November 2018

Photo: The Agadez pilot project: Restoring degraded lands to create jobs for migrant reintegration in West Africa. Source: UNCCD

Global Compact Pays Heed to Migrants Fleeing Degrading Lands

Viewpoint by Mariam Traore Chazalnoël

The writer is a specialist in environmental and climate migration at the International Organization for Migration (IOM)'s Office to the United Nations in New York. She has been working since 2013 on the global governance of environmental migration and regularly publishes on the topic. This article first appeared in UNCCD Science to Policy Weblog on 17 August 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – The plight of people migrating in the context of environmental degradation, climate change impacts and natural disasters and the potential governance responses to such challenges have received a lot of attention in recent years.