The African Union (AU) Labour Migration Advisory Committee (LMAC) carried out an assessment mission to the East Africa Community (EAC) in Arusha from 14-15 August 2019.

The major objective of the mission was to understand and share experiences on policies, legal and institutional frameworks and legal instruments regulating labour migration management within and beyond the EAC.

According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the majority of African migration is actually intra-African. Unlike popular belief, more than 60% of Africa’s international migrant population remains within the continent. Migration from Africa to other world regions is taking place on a much lower level than one might think. For example, there are an estimated 7.5 million West African migrants in West Africa compared to 1.2 million dispersed between North America and Europe.  Additionally, more than half of all West African migrants in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries originate from 4 states – Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Cape Verde.

The AU has recognized the importance and inevitability of migration and exhibited considerable leadership and political will by putting in place policy instruments to enhance effective migration governance. Whilst various efforts have been undertaken in this regard over the past decade or so, major milestones were reached in 2018 with the adoption of two landmark decisions which are: 

1. The AU Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment and
2. The African Continental Free Trade Area, adopted in January and March 2018 respectively. Additionally, there are also:
3. The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and  
4. The AU-ILO-IOM-ECA Joint Programme on Labour Migration Governance for Development and Regional Integration (JLMP).

For the aforementioned reason, the AU has established the LMAC, which is a Tripartite Consultative-Advisory Body to the Member States on labour migration law, policy and practice across the African continent in 2015 in Dakar, Senegal to consolidate ongoing structured and result-oriented dialogue on labour migration among relevant labour migration actors across the continent through the operationalization of the LMAC through Outcome 3, ‘multi-stakeholder policy consultation and practical coordination on labour migration and mobility to provide advisory support to Member States (MSs), AU’s and RECs’ decision makers’ with the ultimate objective of enhancing the LMAC’s capacity to offer advisory services to MSs and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) by understanding the specific contexts and priorities of each region.

Members of the LMAC include:

1. AU- Regional Economic Communities (RECs),
2. Pan African Parliament,
3. United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC),
4. African Commission on Human and People’s Rights,
5. African Committee of Experts on the rights of Welfare of the Children,
6. Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU),
7. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)-Africa,
8. Business Africa,
9. International Labor Organization (ILO),
10. International Organization for Migration (IOM),
11. UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA),
12. Universities and Research Institutions,
13. African Diaspora Organizations and
14. Women in Cross-Border Traders.

It has so far carried out three successful missions in Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) both in May 2019 and Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa (COMESA) in June 2019. The mission to the EAC mission was the fourth. These will be followed by missions to: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and Southern African Development Community (SADC) between September and October 2019 and missions to regions beyond the continent.

Participants of the assessment mission of the LMAC mission to EAC included: representative from the AU, EAC, different ministries, social partners, civil societies, IOM and ILO. At the opening, EAC participants were led by the Director of Social Sectors, Ms. Mary Makoffu. The Deputy Secretary General of EAC in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Honorable Bazivamo closed the two days mission. As part of the assessment, missions participants also visited one stop border post (OSBP) between Tanzania and Kenya.

In the EAC region, IOM together with partners such as ILO, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Trademark East Africa (TEA) is supporting the EAC Partner States on better migration management through capacity building on integrated border management, counter-human trafficking, migration and health, migration and climate change etc. On labour migration governance, IOM recently finalized the “Comparative Study on the Free Movement of Workers in Select East African Community Countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania” in which among the recommendations are the adoption of labour migration policies and laws based on international best practice.

IOM is currently working with partners to support the EAC Secretariat to finalize two key framework documents:

1. the labour migration policy framework and
2. the e-immigration policy.

IOM as one of the JLMP implementing partners and a member of the Committee, strongly believes that, a well-managed labour migration has the potential to yield significant benefits to both countries of origin and destination and is convinced tripartite dialogues and consultations on labour migration law, policy and practice is a key to reap such benefits.

“It is IOM’s sincere hope that the beneficiaries of this assessment mission, namely Migrant workers and members of their families, RECs, MS’s, labour administrations and social partners will harvest the benefits of well governed labour migration across the continent” said Dr Qasim Sufi, the IOM Chief of Mission in his opening remarks of the two days LMAC assessment mission in the EAC in Arusha.