19-07-2017, Geneva (Switzerland): The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental authority on development (IGAD), H.E Amb (Eng) Mahboub Maalim, contributed as a speaker to a workshop on Migration at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on July 19th following an invitation from the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), H.E Amb William Lacy Swing.
Organized within the framework of the IOM International Dialogue on Migration (IDM), this workshop brought together IOM Members States and relevant stakeholders in view of exchanging on core aspects of the upcoming Global Compact 2018 for safe orderly and regular migration which stems from the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants of 2016.
Amb Maalim, along with other speakers at the high table, discussed and put forward recommendations for measures to reduce migrants’ vulnerabilities as stipulated by the organizers of the workshop titled “Understanding migrant vulnerabilities: A solution-based approach towards a global compact that reduces vulnerabilities and empowers migrants”.
IGAD Executive Secretary welcomed the New York Declaration and noted that IGAD region has been experiencing mobility of people for decades, but that the change lied in the “dangerous routes for migration occasioned by the rise of smuggling and trafficking cartels”.
Amb Maalim briefed the audience about the IGAD Regional Migration Framework which was adopted, the establishment of a dialogue process with the IGAD Regional Consultative Process on migration that “provides a platform for members States, countries of origin and destination to have dialogue and seek common solutions to the challenges of migration”, the establishment of National Coordination Mechanisms at country level.
He highlighted that Member States of IGAD had held “regional consultations on the Global Compact 2018 that will feed into the African consultation. He enumerated key points noted by IGAD Member States in the protection of migrants such as: respect of international norms, fight against racism and xenophobia, appropriate policy and legislation frameworks among others.
