Africa-EU Partnership on Migration, Mobility, and Employment

Abstract

Since 2006, the question of migration has been at the forefront of the international agenda—both in Africa-EU relations and globally—through a number of important events and policy initiatives devoted to the migration–development nexus. It suffices to mention the Euro-African Ministerial Conference in Rabat in July 2006, the UN High Level Dialogue in New York in September 2006, the Africa-EU Ministerial Conference in Tripoli in November 2006, the Euro-African Conference in Madrid in June 2007, the First Global Forum in Brussels in July 2007, the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference in Albufeira in November 2007, the Second Global Forum in Manila in October 2008, and the Second Euro-African Ministerial Conference in Paris in November 2008. In addition to these multilateral activities, the EU and Africa have separately produced a number of important policy documents outlining their respective positions in the area of migration. These high level events and policy documents are a reflection of the increased realization that, as the then French Minister of the Interior Nicholas Sarkozy put it, “immigration will inescapably be one on the twenty-first century’s essential challenges.”¹ There is therefore a need, on the part of all actors involved, to jointly and adequately respond to the challenges and opportunities that arise from migratory flows.