Officials of Central African States (ECCAS) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Member States have committed to jointly improve safe and dignified recruitment of their citizens in the digital age. Representatives of the two Regional Economic Communities (RECs) agreed to collaborate on this and other areas during a regional tripartite conference on labour migration held in Kampala, Uganda from 16 to 18 April with support from the Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP).

“We must bridge the digital divide, provide essential skills training, and ensure tailored protection mechanisms against exploitation to empower them [migrant workers] to thrive in an increasingly digital workforce,” said Hon. Davinia Esther Anyakun, Uganda’s State Minister for Gender Labour and Social Development (Employment and Industrial Relations).

The conference, which brought together 68 experts, evaluated the state of labour migration in the chosen RECs, recent developments and ongoing challenges in safeguarding migrant workers, and matters concerning skills recognition, free movement, data and research as well as international cooperation.

“Member States are now implementing all-party-benefiting alternatives like skills mobility partnerships (SMPs) to address mismatches between labour supply and demand through targeted policies and programmes,” said Mr. Sanusi Tejan Savage, the IOM Uganda Chief of Mission. He urged experts to leverage existing efforts to facilitate skills movement.

In addition to suggestions on how to improve employability in the digital age, officials agreed to work on ratifying key labour migration instruments and guidelines, set up technical working groups on labour migration, and facilitate free movement by easing visa applications and requirements.

Based on the second edition of the Africa Migration Report, only three African countries—Benin, The Gambia, and Seychelles—allow visa-free travel for citizens from all other African nations. Furthermore, 14 countries offer visa on arrival to citizens of 35 or more African countries.

On the other hand, 32 countries still ask for a visa before traveling from nationals of at least half of Africa's countries.

Experts also agreed to boost tripartite task forces at regional and national levels and to do situational analyses to make improvement plans. They highlighted the need to do situation and gap analyses, review social protection frameworks, and promote bilateral and multilateral labour agreements within their regions.

 About the JLMP

The Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP) is a collaborative initiative between the African Union Commission (AUC), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM). Adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State, the JLMP's strategy emphasizes intra-African labour migration and aligns with the First 2023 Ten Year Plan of the AU's Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is currently implementing projects to enhance rights-based governance for labour migration and mobility in Africa, ensuring gender-responsive regulations and protections for all migrant workers; increase availability and utilization of labour migration data & statistics by MSs and RECs for evidence-based policy-making; and support MS to establish systems that promote safe, secure, and equal working conditions for migrant workers in formal and informal sectors with access to social protection and skill recognition.

For more information contact: Innocent Vuga VugaI@africa-union.org and Eric Mazango emazango@iom.int