African Civil Societies Workshop: The Abuja Statement

The Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) is a state-led non-binding process set up in 2007 with the aim of informing global and regional dialogue on migration and development. The process is a multi-stakeholder platform that allows actors at international, regional and local levels. To ensure inclusive participation of a wide range of stakeholders, different mechanisms were established under GFMD: The Civil Society, the Mayors and the Business mechanism. The co-chairs of the GFMD process for 2023 are Senegal and France.

At the beginning of 2023, African civil society and diaspora organizations working on migration governance convened the African Civil Society and Diaspora Forum to kick off the 2023 GFMD Civil Society process. The Forum brought together participants from all parts of the continent and the diaspora community to discuss challenges in migration governance and to issue a collective statement calling states, migration actors and stakeholders into action. The Abuja Statement was the main outcome of the workshop in which civil society and diaspora leaders focused on three thematic priorities: labor migration, climate mobility and diaspora engagement. The statement also emphasizes the increased recognition of civil society and diaspora organizations in migration governance and highlights the need to protect the rights of migrants - especially women and child migrants - by adopting a human right approach.

Regarding climate change, the statement calls on the urgent need to establish early warning systems that provide valid data linked to climate change and its mobility impacts while calling for national, regional and continental policy frameworks that factor in climate induced migration by meaningfully integrating frontline communities in the design of such policies. The statement also notes the relevance of cross-border cooperation as well as collaboration between partners including the Mayors mechanism under the GFMD process.

On labor migration, civil society and diaspora organizations noted their concern over the “criminalization of the mobility of migrants within and outside Africa”while also stressing the development potentials of labor migration whenever appropriately managed. In the statement, participants of the Forum demand the adoption of key UN human rights treaties and ILO conventions for the enhanced protection of labor migrants as well as calling for the promotion of the ILO Decent Work Agenda promoting fair and equitable recruitment processes. The statement also stresses the need to establish legal pathways, to recognize skills of labor migrants and to adopt inclusive approaches on labor migration among other recommendations.

Finally, regarding the diaspora, the statement underlines the relevance of the diaspora community as it amplifies the concerns of migrants and their families as well as communities of origin. Recommendations in the statement include enhanced cooperation between diaspora communities and organizations with governments to promote development potentials of the diaspora, addressing challenges related to remittances and the adoption of favorable investment policies to encourage diaspora engagement. Access to political and civic rights in countries of origin, the engagement of diaspora organizations as technical partners to ensure skills transfer and the engagement of multi-generational members of the diaspora recognizing the potential of second and subsequent generations of the diaspora.

FES-FMCC supported the organization of the Civil Society and Diaspora Organizations Forum held at the beginning of February in Abuja, Nigeria. Under its migration and development focus, FES-FMCC supports the recommendations under the Abuja Statement and continues to engage African civil society and diaspora organizations in a wide array of issues.