Definition
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims, in its Goal 10.7, to “Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies”.
Since its inception, the Rabat Process has consistently promoted the positive potential of regular migration and the key role of the diaspora for countries of origin, transit and destination. The strengthening of synergies between migration and development constitutes a priority domain and a specific feature of the Rabat Process. The dialogue partners agree to pursue this path and will focus most of their actions on maximising the benefits of regular migration for development, including, as a priority, members of the diaspora in this process.
The Rabat Process partners recognise the multiple root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement. These root causes, most of which are interconnected, need to be increasingly addressed through a wide range of appropriate responses both at policy and operational levels. Taking into account the mixed nature of migration flows, the partners reiterate the commitments made in the Valletta framework to invest in development and the eradication of poverty, to fight the root causes of irregular migration, to support humanitarian aid and development assistance in the countries most affected by the phenomenon of displaced persons, and to address environmental and climate change issues in the most affected regions.
Objective 1: Maximising the positive impact of regular migration for development
Action 1: Identify and share good practices that enable countries to gain better knowledge of the profiles of their diasporas and to adopt or to optimise strategies that promote their economic, social and cultural potential for development, whilst also analysing the potential obstacles to the adoption and optimisation of these good practices.
Action 2: Contribute to reducing the costs of remittances and to facilitating remittances sent by migrants to their countries of origin, in particular by supporting innovative or existing initiatives using the potential offered by digitalisation. The partners might refer, for example, to the work carried out by the African Institute for Remittances and its network of focal points.
Action 3: Promote initiatives that support entrepreneurship and productive investment among young people from the African Diaspora (such as the flagship MEETAfrica programme, developed within the framework of the Rabat Process), and encourage these young people to use their skills for the benefit of their countries of origin.
Objective 2: Achieve a common understanding of the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement in the Rabat Process region
Action 4: Analyse the root causes and make practical recommendations (particularly through the organisation of thematic meetings on this subject) with a view to improving the incorporation of these issues into policy development.
Action 5: Promote a more systematic inclusion of issues related to the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement into socio-economic development strategies and programmes at national level, and into development cooperation programmes, whilst also promoting ownership of existing regional normative frameworks.