By Kemo Cham
An orderly and properly managed labour migration can be a catalyst for economic development, officials said Monday at the start of four-day training workshop on labour migration governance.
The training which took place in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, covered the protocol on free movement of persons within Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region. It is part of a larger initiative designed to enhance the benefit of migration for both origin and host communities.
Amidst a growing concern over mass migration between Africa and Europe, there has been a corresponding increase in demand for efforts to control the trend. But some officials say there is an almost equal concern for the trend of migration within the sub-region.
The ECOWAS Commission and the European Union are jointly funding this initiative. The ongoing training is the first of three training sessions planned for the coming months.
Some 30 high-ranking and middle level officials selected from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of Sierra Leone and its associated ministries and departments are taking part in the four-day training which ends on 24 November.
“Free movement within the ECOWAS countries is one of the important commonalities between ECOWAS and the EU,” says Ambassador Peter Versteeg, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sierra Leone. Speaking at the opening ceremony, he said while migration had potential benefits, there was the need to address the ills associated with it. He noted that in both Europe and Africa trafficking in humans was considered a serious crime and an unacceptable infringement of fundamental human rights which called for collaborative efforts to tackle.
“We have a common responsibility to address the opportunities and challenges of migration and mobility. We must promote regular channels of migration and at the same time we are determined to fight against irregular migration and trafficking” Versteeg said, adding: “This is why EU welcomes this training”.
He also spoke of the need to address the fundamental rights of migrants by preventing and fighting migrant-smuggling, eradicating trafficking in humans, and combating exploitation of vulnerable people.
The process of regulating labour migration in Sierra Leone began in 2010 when the government, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), implemented a project designed to build capacity for labour migration governance. That led to the establishment of a labor migration unit within the labour ministry.
That was followed, a few months ago, by the drafting of a national labour migration policy. It soon emerged that there was the need for training for the ministry to ensure successful implementation of the policy.
The government therefore requested for technical assistance from the Demand Driven Facility (DDF) within the framework of the ‘Support to Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa (FMM) project of ECOWAS. The FMM is jointly implemented by the IOM, the International Centre for Migration Policy and Development, and the International Labour Organisation.
The DDF facility was approved for Sierra Leone in November 2015 and a migration expert hired earlier this year was tasked to assess the capacity of the Ministry of Labor to implement the labor migration policy when introduced.
Based on that assessment, according to officials, three workshops were proposed to cover three broad components of labour migration governance. This week’s training is the first and it's designed along international agreements focusing on the creation of a set of rules to regulate the behaviour of states with respect to movement of people across borders and to take actions in pursuit of a shared agenda of a safe, secure, legal and orderly migration.
The second and third phases of the training will focus on protecting migrants and enhancing the developmental impact of migration.
“Labour migration is a global phenomenon but has a particular impact in this part of the African continent, West Africa,” said Dr Alves D’ Almada Fernando Jorge, Head of the Division of Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission. He quoted statistics on migratory flow in Africa showing West Africa as "most important" compared to other regions of the continent.
“People generally migrate from one county to another in search of better living condition and this has become a crucial issue for our sub region both for the problems it raises and for its impact on development of our countries,” he stated, calling for the institution of national and regional mechanisms to capacitate and allow for a better protection of people and communities.
Sanusi Savage, Country Representative of the IOM in Sierra Leone, spoke on the organisation’s commitment to ensure a smooth management of migration both within West Africa and globally.
Mathew Teambo, Minister of Labour and Social Security, said government was determined to ensure that labour migration became an instrument of national growth and development, hence the institution of the draft labour migration policy which he said would soon be put up for validation and subsequently presented to cabinet for approval.
Copyright (c) 2016 Politico
