On the 29th of January to 1st of February, leading experts in the African Civil Society and Diasporas gathered in Abuja to discuss topical issues in the migration and development space and launch the 2023 civil society Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) process. The central thrust of the three-day forum is to promote the African agency in the global migration conversation and address the leading challenges affecting African migrants and diasporas. Specifically, the forum aligned its focus to the six priority areas of the 2022/2023 GFMD process – including climate mobility, human rights and migration, diasporas, labour migration, migration narratives, and multi-level governance. To this end, this forum produced an Abuja Statement that acknowledged various migration-related challenges in the continent and outlined several recommendations to State members ahead of the Paris Summit in 2024.
Key Activities and Issues
As mentioned above, this forum placed high priority on improving Africa’s agency in the global migration governance and discourse. The forum highlighted the GFMD processes and the significant of Global Compact for Migration for African CSOs and diaspora’s engagement on migration issues. Some of the key activities at the forum includes; 5 panel sessions, 2 group work sessions, a networking dinner, and the Abuja Statement committee meeting.
Panel Sessions – The panel sessions explore the different thematic issues that are significant to 2022/2023 GFMD processes. Some of the issues include promoting the rights of labour migrants, diasporas protection and their roles in Africa’s development, addressing climate-induced migration, reframing African migrants’ narratives, migration and Africa’s economic growth as well as AfCFTA, among others. Experts from the African civil society mechanism, business mechanism, diasporas, and government officials were present on these panel sessions.
Group Work Sessions – The forum also featured two group work sessions on four thematic areas, including climate-induced mobility, labour migration, diasporas, and French speaking team. These working groups highlighted the key issues surrounding these thematic areas and outlined several recommendations.
Networking Dinner – The forum also had a networking dinner that was held on the second day. The dinner provided opportunities for participants – both sponsored and unsponsored – to network and dine together. This dinner presented a great opportunity to engage several participants that were very busy during the forum. Such a fun night!
Abuja Statement Committee – The Committee consists of seven drafters and editors, with some taking the lead to draft the document, while others edit and include some salient points in the document. The statement represents the major outputs from the forum and a key message to the 2022/2023 Co-Chairs (Senegal and France) ahead of the 2024 Paris Summit. The statement was presented on the last day of the forum.
MYCP Engagement in Abuja Forum
As the GFMD recognized youth group, MYCP was represented at the Abuja forum and was very active and significantly involved in every major activity in the three-day forum. MYCP was represented by Lukmon Akintola and Osatohanmwen Mary Igbinosun. Some MYCP’s engagements include;
Interventions – On behalf of MYCP, Lukmon Akintola presented two key interventions on diaspora and migration narrative panel sessions. These interventions highlight the importance of the diasporas in promoting migrant rights, the need for African civil mechanism to identify the changing pattern of migration in the continent through knowledge exchange, research, and adequate data. More importantly, the interventions outlined MYCP’s priorities and the team’s readiness to partner with diaspora and major stakeholders in driving the priorities of 2022/2023 GFMD processes.
Panel Session & Abuja Statement Committee – On behalf of MYCP, Lukmon made a presentation on climate-induced mobility on a panel session. Beyond highlighting the multiple challenges climate mobility present to Africa, he provided some relevant recommendations that African CSOs, diasporas, and the GFMD processes could prioritise in addressing growing climate-induced mobility in Africa. Importantly, he stressed the need to integrate the youth in any climate mobility actions. Also, he coordinated the two climate-mobility working group sessions that provided some set of recommendations. On the Abuja Statement Committee, Lukmon drafted and edited the climate-mobility section in the statement. In general, MYCP coordinated the entire climate-mobility thematic focus in the forum.
