African Migration Observatory inauguration

Rabat, Dec 18 (AFP/APP): The African Migration Observatory, a study platform launched by the African Union to improve migration governance on the continent, was inaugurated on Friday in the Moroccan capital Rabat.

“Today, Africa will have its own data, this will allow us to disprove several myths about migration,” said Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita at a ceremony he co-chaired with the AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira El Fadil.

The AMO’s mission will be to collect, analyze and exchange data across “an interconnected system” linking African countries to improve migration policies that are “often ineffective due to a lack of data”, according to the inauguration document.

Bourita called the AMO’s establishment “a strong message to the international community on the determination of Morocco and Africa to establish better migration governance on the continent”. He added that it will help “demystify” migration issues and deplored the politicization of the subject. Fadil said the inauguration “marks the beginning of our efforts towards generating data that is balanced and relevant to the needs of Africa in the field of migration”.

Migration in Africa is essentially intra-African, with 80 percent of migrants from African countries remaining on the continent, and only 12 percent entering Europe — the remainder traveling elsewhere — according to figures released by Rabat in 2018.

South Africa topped the list of intra-African migration destinations, with 3.1 million arrivals, followed by Ivory Coast at 2.1 million and Nigeria, which recorded 1.9 million.

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