The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (A/RES/73/195), is the first intergovernmental agreement that was prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and a comprehensive manner.
The above is the concise definition, but then what is the United Nations migration Plan or what does it aim to achieve?
The Global Compact is designed to:
Support international cooperation on the governance of international migration; Provide a comprehensive menu of options for States from which they can select policy options to address some of the most pressing issues around international migration; A State is to ensure that all migrants on its territory are able to exercise their economic, social and cultural rights. Migrants arriving irregularly in a new country are often detained in administrative centres or in prisons.
This has been seen or termed to some extent as violation of human rights and or freedom of movement. In curbing some of these issues and the many others that confront migration, the UN Migration Pact was instituted to guide and regulate migration.
What are the objectives of the EU migration policy?
To some extent, it is mainly to control illegal immigration by ensuring that illegal immigrants return to their countries of origin or to a country of transit; to make border controls more effective; to construct a Europe of asylum; and to create a comprehensive partnership with the countries of origin and of transit.
The UN migration Pact is set to allow everyone everywhere across the globe to migrate to wherever they want legally. The pact promises to protect people’s right of stay in whichever countries they choose to migrate to.
As much as this sounds as though it were to profit Africa, and the whole world, one must not forget that, history has it that, whenever the west propose any kinds of treaties, Africa has never been in a benefitting position. It’s always been the giving with one hand and the taking more than deserved with the other.
When people migrate, issues such as unemployment, economic opportunity, education are some of the reasons that influence decisions of the migrant.
But in all, war and displacement due to natural disasters have been notable factors for migration since time.
Labour shortages and brain drain, multiculturalism and integration, refugee and asylum seeking factor some of the
challenges that migrant communities calculate with. Policy makers also grapple with issues of law enforcement. Migration encourages social vices, high cost of living in the receiving region rises as a result, the abundance of cheap labour causes wage drop, and working rights get abused in these host countries not to mention strains on social services that increase.
Countries lose healthy and young people especially men, thus an imbalance in gender population for procreation becomes an issue.
What should Africa take note of as this Pact with the institution of this pact?
Africa experienced many decades of migration due to first and foremost, the infamous slave trade which drained it of
especially its young people who were the next in line to build the continent. Then those who remained on the continent suffered colonialism, oppression and worked to power the economy of the west.
Since independence, Africa continues to suffer under the thumb of neo-colonialism and or rebranded re-colonisation in very many ways. Some of which are capitalized by economic oppression, below world standard education and unskilled, designed to keep its people below the expected mark thus their inability to power their own economy but continue to be dependent on especially the west.
While Africa is happily embracing the migration pact, it fails to understand that two major things are happening to its
disadvantage.
One is the massive loss of brain and man-power to the west which offers Africans not much than the lowest opportunities on the ladder which depletes it of economic freedom and growth.
And the other is the massive migration of not only the west but China, India etc. to the continent who are all draining what is left of the continent, and especially the squeezing out of the people from the economic wealth space since the locals do not have what it takes to compete.
We have nations that are forced to sign Bilateral agreements that do not promote industrialization, better education and skill training that can compete with the world outside the continent yet we embrace a pact that takes everything we can have from the continent.
It’s time Africa began looking to itself for solutions rather than signing up for everything that the west and super powers present it.
Africa should ask the questions how the west and the economic leading nations have done it and to do the same and not
continue to be the laborers they need to be in order that they can continue powering other economies and at
the same time, migrate to take over the continent and everything is left of it.
People who promote population reduction, open their borders to the third world to migrate to their nations, some reasons being because their population is overaged and so there is labour shortage. Yet more and more people are going out of jobs in these nations because of the shift from reliance on human power to artificial intelligence. It makes me ask the question if everything is as they claim?
The migration pact gives right to everyone with money to buy and possess lots irrespective of where they are. While those from the west, Asia or with financial power are at a large advantage, the same cannot be said for Africans especially. The chances and opportunities vary too much for Africa to embrace this pact without asking questions and taking precautions.
This is The Diaspora Lens.
Source: Ghadym
Source: Ghadym
