Waarnemingspunt voor Zuid-Zuid-migratie wordt volgende week gelanceerd (en)

On 25 October 2010, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Observatory on Migration will be officially launched at a special ceremony in Brussels, in presence of Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs. The European Commission and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries worked together to create the ACP Observatory on Migration.

This new body will provide reliable data and information on migration flows in ACP countries. The objective is to design better policies to enhance the migration contribution to development. The Observatory will cover all six ACP regions and start in twelve pilot countries, namely Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Papua-New-Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, Timor-Leste and Trinidad and Tobago.

"South-South migration flows tend to receive less attention than South-North movements. Yet, the number of people migrating from a Southern country to another is i extremely important and has impact on development. The ACP Observatory on migration will help us to have a clearer view on these migratory flows and to shape adequate policies", said Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development.

The ACP Observatory on Migration will tackle existing data and information gaps and will improving policy-oriented knowledge on migration flows of ACP countries. Indeed, available data on ACP migration is often scarce and sometimes unreliable. As a consequence, in many countries, migrants’ needs are not taken into account appropriately.

The Observatory will introduce an innovative approach to enhance research capacities in ACP countries and provide policy makers with the tools to improve their actions. Research will focus on key topics such as, labour migration, migration and health, remittances, brain drain/gain, forced migration and climate change.

The Observatory will foster networking and cooperation between research institutions, private researchers and government agencies. It will be placed under the responsibility of the Secretariat of the ACP Group and funded by the European Union. The total budget for the project is around € 9.4 million. The European Union contributes with around €8 million financed from the 9th European Development Fund.

Launching ceremony and press conference

An official ceremony is organized in Brussels on 25-27 October 2010 to launch the Observatory. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs will participate in the closing ceremony on the Wednesday, 27 October.

Following the opening ceremony on Monday 25 October, journalists are invited to register for a press point at 12.15 with the Director General of EuropeAid, the European Commission, Mr Koos Richelle and the Secretary-General of the ACP Group, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas.

Background:

The ACP Observatory on Migration is one of the components financed under the intra-ACP Migration Facility which aims at including migration issues into national and regional development policies and strategies, with the ultimate objective to reduce poverty.

Press point:

When: 12.00, 25 October 2010

Where: ACP House - Avenue Georges Henri, 1200 Brussels

How: Registration should be done by the latest 22 October to ACP-Observatory-Event@iom.int / +32 2 894 92 30

More information:

ACP Observatory on Migration: http://www.acpmigration-obs.org/

Website of Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm