Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2014 00:53:37 +0200
Africa-EU Summit agrees on action plan for migration and mobility
April 4, 2014 in <http://www.capitaleritrea.com/category/news/africa/>
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April 04, 2014 (Brussels) - The Heads of State and Government of the
European Union (EU) and Africa released a declaration on Migration and
Mobility, during the fourth EU Africa Summit in Brussels.
The declaration stresses the benefits of migration and mobility for both our
continents, and that a comprehensive approach to migration and mobility
would be powerful vehicle for boosting sustainable economic, social and
environmental development for countries of origin, transit and destination,
as well as to migrants themselves.
However, the head of states also acknowledged that migration and mobility
between the two continents can present both opportunities and challenges.
This includes that the root causes of irregular migration between Africa and
Europe such as the lack of employment opportunities for youth at regional
level needs to be addressed and that further efforts should be made to
better organize legal migration.
Especially, fostering well-managed mobility and encouraging policies that
facilitate labour migration between states and on regional level.
"The serious social and human impact of irregular migration and the loss of
life caused by it, and more than ever committed to undertake action to avoid
such tragedies in future by effectively tackling irregular migration and
adopting a comprehensive approach to migration management, within the
context of strict observance of human rights and human dignity", the
declaration read.
To address the huge challenges of migration and mobility the EU-Africa
summit has agreed on an action plan for 2014 - 2017 in the area of combating
human trafficking, smuggling of migrants, working on border security,
reducing the cost of Diaspora remittances, enhancing legal framework of
migration and protection of refugees, providing for asylum seekers and
internally displaced persons in need.
Some 435,000 people applied for asylum in the EU last year, a 36% jump on
2012. Syrians topped the list and almost three times as many Eritreans tried
to escape their country as the year before, according to Eurostat, the EU
statistics service.
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