Regional Inter-State Consultation Mechanisms on Migration ...

should be co-chaired by a representative of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as
by the representative of the ECOWAS Member <strong>State</strong> currently serving as Chairman
of the Authority of Heads of <strong>State</strong> of ECOWAS. These recommendations are yet to
be fully reviewed or accepted.
At present, ECOWAS has no office or arm dealing exclusively with migration;
rather, the issue cross-cuts and influences ECOWAS thinking in a number of areas,
particularly the expansion of borderless trade and strategies for the maximum
development and use of human resources in the region.
Recent meetings and evolution of the agenda
The most recent meeting of MIDWA, held in July 2012, focused on internal
organizational and governance matters. The agenda recognized that weaknesses
in the management structure existed, including a weak articulation of the linkage
between MIDWA and ECOWAS. ECOWAS pledged financial support to MIDWA
at this meeting and encouraged Member <strong>State</strong>s to support an enhanced institutional
framework for MIDWA. Instructively, the IGAD-RCP was presented as a model that
more closely tied the RCP to the regional economic/trade body, and one with a wellarticulated
governance structure.
Linkages with multilateral agreements
In April and May of 2007, experts' meetings were organized to define a common
approach to migration for the region, with the intent to present these recommendations
to the ECOWAS Heads of <strong>State</strong> in early 2008. ECOWAS was, at the time, elaborating
the ECOWAS Common Approach to Migration, 10 which was accepted by its members
in 2008. The MIDWA efforts fed into and influenced the ECOWAS final document;
however, it should be noted that MIDWA was not mentioned in the ECOWAS migration
document.
Taxonomic placement
While closely linked and perhaps moving now into a more formal linkage with
ECOWAS, MIDWA is today a stand-alone RCP. It is in its structure and process most
easily comparable to MIDSA. Further, like MIDSA, IGAD-RCP, COMESA RCP and
the South American Conference on Migration (SACM) – in relation to SADC, IGAD,
COMESA and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), respectively – it is
among the RCPs geographically aligned, with little exception, with their corresponding
regional trade/development/common market authorities.
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