Konferenzbericht (PDF-Dokument, 3 MB) - SID

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primary objective. The emergent view that Europe has
become a fortress, with huge walls (literally and figura-
tively) is an enduring perception. This policy framework
is anchored on harsher visa regimes; transit camps (now
even located in African countries) to screen and repatri-
ate „undesirable‟ migrants; bilateral negotiations with
African countries on one hand and regional institutions
on the other to try and put in place African policy frame-
works that would address the migration question; the
use of ODA resources to spur development initiatives
locally (and thus hopefully reduce the temptation to
migrate). In any case virtually all of these policies and
provisions have a preventive purpose – even where
ODA and proposals linking migration and development
are concerned (one thinks for instance of the emphasis
on „projects of return‟ of migrants currently in Europe).
On the other hand, migration policy in Africa ranges from
patchy to non-existent. In recent years there is more
attention being paid to this at the policy level partly due
to the realization that the re-sources being channelled
home back by migrants are significant and in some
cases rival if not surpass ODA. But it is also partly due to
the fact that in some countries, Diaspora communities
have be-come significant political interlocutors thus
meriting attention of politicians as they campaign for
votes in general elections. But equally important is the
pressure that has been placed on African countries by
Europe to address the question of illegal migrants either
departing their countries or transiting their countries en
route to Europe. Indeed, the-re is a growing body of
policy initiatives at the continental level that seeks to
address these issues. We can go back to:
- The 1st executive council session of the AU in Dur-
36
ban, July 2002 where the involvement of the Dias-
pora in AU programmes was deliberated;
- The AU summit in Maputo, July 2003 which modified
the constitutive acts of the AU to allow for Diaspora
involvement in AU-building processes, in this year,
knowledge migrates
the idea of formally recognizing Africans living out-
side the continent as its „sixth region‟ was debated
by the AU;
- The AU summit in Khartoum, January 2006 which
deliberated on the magnitude and impact of migra-
tion with particular emphasis on brain-drain;
- The African Common Position on Migration and
Development presented in Algiers, April 2006 to en-
sure that African concerns are properly reflected at
the Africa/Europe dialogue and other related fora.
- With respect to the ACPMD, the action plan essen-
tially looks at what can be done at the national level,
the continental level and the international level. What
is interesting is that the Common Position invites
countries to develop frameworks to deal with migra-
tion at the national level – thus highlighting the thin
coverage of the topic by present policies.
In presenting the above, it is clear to see that we cur-
rently have an emergent policy framework that is largely
responding to the increasing numbers of illegal and
irregular migrants headed towards Europe on one hand
and the departure of skilled professionals to the West. In
so doing, it is forced to confront the challenge of how to
facilitate legal migration, acknowledge the fact that Af-
rica is a continent of highly mobile people and that there
are legitimate reasons (nonetheless) why people are
leaving their countries (the development conundrum).
But what are the perceptions to this emergent policy
framework?
Certainly at the national level, what a lot of people have
seen are increased controls on movement outwards,
particularly for those who are headed to the larger west-
ern world – Europe included. The complexity of visa
regimes per se has made it difficult even for prospective
travellers to obtain the permission to travel. And even
once obtained, there are numerous control layers to