The ACSRM supports African Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in strengthening labor migration governance and the development contribution of labor migration to benefit the origin and destination countries.
The AU MPFA advocates Member States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to develop and implement comprehensive, transparent, gender-responsive, well-evidenced, human rights-based policy and legal, legislative, and institutional frameworks on labor migration at national and regional levels.
Labor migration can foster inclusive growth and sustainable socioeconomic development, if it’s well managed. Promoting legal labor migration opportunities, skills portability, mutual recognition of skills and qualifications, the portability of social security benefits, and transfer of knowledge, skills, remittances, and technology can foster inclusive socioeconomic development and regional economic integration. Strengthening the labor market information system can facilitate “skills development and skill pooling across the continent.”
Student and labor migration can be converted from brain drain to brain gain by adopting and implementing effective brain gain and brain circulation policies and programs.
Ensuring ethical recruitment practices by employers and private recruitment agencies and the promotion of migrant workers’ human rights and labor rights can help address the increasing vulnerability of migrant workers to irregular migration, trafficking, and smuggling of migrants and the abuses, exploitation, deteriorating working and living conditions, human rights violation, and violence facing many migrant workers’ predominantly female migrant workers. Ensuring a fair, transparent, ethical, and accountable recruitment and admission system of labor migrants and enhanced labor migration governance through sound and effective bilateral labor agreements is fundamental to protecting migrant workers and facilitating remittances’ transfer and overall their contribution to the socioeconomic development of their countries of origin.
The wellbeing and development potential of labor migrants can be fostered through policies, including facilitating their integration into the labor market, access to education and training opportunities, and access to social protection and social security benefits in the context of migration and back home.
Promoting regional and international cooperation on labor migration governance and labor migration and development is essential. Promoting regional cooperation and labor migration policies can help foster regular labor migration opportunities. This can contribute to addressing labor shortages in the domestic and international labor market, reducing vulnerability to irregular migration, and facilitating the enforcement of labor standards. The harmonization and effective implementation of AU and RECs free movement provision related to residence and establishment and enhanced cooperation among Member States on the free movement of persons can foster regular labor migration and, therefore, better labor migration management.
