The African Observatory for Migration and Development: for the benefit of whom?
During the 28th summit of the African Union (AU), as soon as Morocco returned to the AU after thirty years of absence, the country’s sovereign, King Mohammed VI, was appointed Africa’s leader for migration. Part of this decision was based on the positive development of the 2013 Moroccan policy on national immigration and asylum which aimed at regularizing the situation of many migrants and which benefited 25,000 migrants in 2014 alone. The King started working towards an African Agenda on...
Whose Agenda? Bottom up Positionalities of West African Migrants
The article summarized below, “Whose Agenda? Bottom up Positionalities of West African Migrants in the Framework of European Union Migration Management” was originally authored by Lothar Smith and Joris Schapendonk from Radboud University (Netherlands) and published by the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA). In an attempt to stem the influx of African migrants towards the shores of Europe, the European Union has launched numerous initiatives to boost economic...
Refugee Entrepreneurial Economies in Urban South Africa
The article summarized below, “Refugees Entrepreneurial Economies in Urban South Africa” was originally authored by Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera, Cameron McCordic, Sujata Ramachandran, and Robertson Tengeh and published by the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA). The South African migration integration scene is highly characterised by xenophobia. While racism is based on race, xenophobia is based on nationality meaning that nationals of a hosting country dislike or are prejudiced against people from other countries. Xenophobic...
Voluntary repatriation as a durable solution or reshape the notions of return?
Angola is just a picture in my mind Voluntary repatriation can be accompanied by a whole range of practical, identity and post-conflict related problems. Sergio Carciotto, the associate director of the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) , gives us insight into the process of voluntary repatriation in South Africa after Angolan refugees had their refugee status ceased in 2013. This came to be known as the ‘Angolan Cessation’. The findings of his article, “Angolan...
EU-Africa Relations on Migration: What future?
Over the past ten years, broadly under the auspices of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), regional migration dialogues between the EU and the AU have intensified for the purposes of improving cooperation and making a well-managed migration a tool for development. However, the EU has pursued an agenda driven mainly by an interest in reducing irregular movements and transferring control over the governance of migration policies to European states. Intra-regional migration dialogues and regional consultative migration processes led by groups...
The Regularization of Zimbabwean Migrants: a Case of Permanent Temporariness
In an article titled Back to the future? Can Europe meet its labor needs through temporary, migration? Stephen Castles inquires whether temporary worker schemes introduced in Europe in the 2000s would resemble past guest worker programs which provided employers with young unskilled workers who were unmarried or had left their families at home and worked, on a “rotation basis” (Rotationsprinzip), in agriculture, construction, mining, and manufacturing. His answer to the question is no. However, he argues that “some current approaches...
