International Migration in the African Context: Realities and Challenges

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, May God glorify  him, in collaboration with:

The Regional Council of Oriental,

The Development Agency of the Province and Regions of the Oriental,

The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in charge of Moroccans Residing Abroad and Migration Affairs,

And the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad,

Mohammed Premier University of Oujda organizes an international meeting on the theme:

International Migration in the African Context: Realities and Challenges

In the conference room: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda

On Wednesday and Thursday, March 27-28, 2019

March 27 and 28, 2019 Location: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy

Argument:

As part of the implementation of the scientific and cultural program of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Oujda and  in partnership with the Council of the Moroccan Community abroad, the Ministry Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in Charge of Moroccans Residing Abroad and Migration Affairs and the Regional Council of the Oriental, the Amazighe Studies Department organizes an International Colloquium on the theme of "International Migration in the African Context: Realities and Challenges ", on March 27-28, 2019.  The proceedings will be held at the conference room of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda starting from 9:00 am.

The objective of this International conference is to contribute academic insights on migration, at a time when Morocco is mandated to coordinate the action of the African Union on this complex issue.  Such an endeavour also coincided with the country’s co-chairing, last December 2018,  with the Forum Global Migration and Development an International Conference on Migration during which a Global Pact for Safe, Ordered and Regular Migration was adopted.

Morocco is seriously concerned by the migration issue, because of its geographical position as the gateway to Europe. Not any more a transit country for sub-Saharan migrants to Europe, Morocco has become a host country. Migration becomes a matter of topicality in the perspective of the accession of Morocco to ECOWAS where the principle of free movement of people is a norm.

This meeting also proposes to study the phenomenon of Migration and its impact on African countries in general and Morocco in particular. Aware that the international community has tackled the issue of migration from a securitizing perspective rather than through a broader development framework that should involve both countries of origin, those of transit and those of stay, Morocco has also submitted roadmap proposal on the migration issue to the African Union in Addis Ababa in 2017.

The phenomenon of migration has thus become a major concern for international organizations such as the United Nations, which organized a high-level dialogue on international migration in New York in November 2013. This dialogue recommended that countries with high percentages of migrants take migration into account in their development policies and strategies.

In this context, the Kingdom of Morocco has adopted a set of procedures and actions related to this phenomenon, such as the national strategy of immigration and asylum, in addition to the establishment of a good governance to manage flows of migrants on the one hand, and mobilize all civil society on the other, to optimize investment in this phenomenon and come up with economic development that respond to the initiatives launched by the Kingdom of Morocco in the field of migration management and its contemporary transformations in African countries.

South-South migration has become a significant proportion of international migration flows. In 2015, human mobility has been a very important movement in developing countries. The number of migrants to other countries exceeded 90 million. However, there are 85.3 million south-south migrants who came to the countries of the North (according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2015).

For two decades, Morocco has become a country of passage for many migrants while, on the other hand, the European countries adopted policies that refused to welcome these migratory flows. Meanwhile, the report of the National Human Rights Council in September 2013, entitled "Foreigners and Human Rights in Morocco: Towards a new migration and asylum policy" has given a new momentum to human rights policies.

His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God help him, has given his instructions to the government to adopt a new immigration policy that ensures the fundamental rights of immigrants while respecting the constitutional principles of the Moroccan Kingdom and its international obligations. In this context, we are organizing this international conference to ensure that the University and its partners contribute to the proper management of the phenomenon of migration with a view to making it a lever for development and cultural diversity.

The scientific axes of the conference are:

1. Morocco return to the African Union and the new immigration policy.

2. The role of African Institutions in strengthening partnerships and cooperation on immigration

3.. European immigration policies and social integration

4. Regional approaches to the issue of migration and integration.

5.. South-South Immigration Management and Development and Security Challenges