African Union (AU)

IOM-SLO Addis has been collaborating with the AUC since the signing of cooperation agreement between the two organizations in 1998. SLU works closely with the AUC Departments of Social Affairs, Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Economic Affairs, among others, to develop and implement key continental initiatives.

IOM SLU has been engaged in providing technical assistance towards the development and implementation of continental migration policies and declarations on migration such as; Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA), Ouagadougou Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings Especially Children and Women, the African Common Position on Migration and Development, and the Kampala Convention on Internally Displaced Persons.

SLU has also enhanced the capacity of AUC departments of Political and Social Affairs, through seconding technical staff, to help deliver on set out objectives.

Given its expertise on various thematic areas, the SLU is:

• Supporting efforts of the AUC Political Affairs department  towards the development, adoption and popularization of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the Regional Economic Communities relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment (Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons).
• Working closely with the AUC Social Affairs Department and other partners in promoting intra‐African labour mobility, and migration governance for development and integration in Africa through the implementation of the AU-IOM-ILO-UNECA Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP) launched in 2018. The JLMP is aimed at improving the governance of labour migration to achieve safer, orderly and regular migration in Africa as committed in relevant frameworks of the African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Commissions (RECs), as well as international labour conventions and other cooperation processes.
• Engaging with the Social Affairs department of the AUC in the implementation of the revised Migration Policy Framework for Africa and development of policy documents on counter trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling in Africa. 
• Jointly with AUC Social Affairs department, and as secretariat member of the African Union Horn of Africa Initiative on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (AU-HoAI), providing support to operationalization of the Initiative. Founded in 2012 and established in 2014, the AU-HOAI is a forum for participating countries from the Horn of Africa region to debate issues, exchange information, share experiences and deliberate on the status and counter measure approaches to human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the Horn of Africa region.
• Collaborating with the AUC to organize the annual Pan-African Forum on Migration (PAFoM). The AU Commission, together with IOM instituted the PAFoM, an annual forum of AU member states and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to discuss and share experiences on migration related issues with the aim of having a common understanding on critical migration agenda in the continent.Following recommendations from the 4th PAFOM meeting in November 2018, the platform will be used to contribute to the follow up, implementation and review of the Global Compact for Migration.
• In partnership with the AUC, working towards instituting a bi-annual African Migration Report. This joint initiative has commenced with the drafting of the first edition of The Africa Migration Report 2019 themed, ‘Challenging the Narrative’ which is aimed at deconstructing often misrepresented dialogues of migration to, from, and within the continent.
• Engaging with the AUC Peace and Security department in the area of Integrated Border Management and the implementation of the AU Border Program, particularly on cross-border cooperation and capacity building.
• Exploring opportunities to support AUC Departments of Economic Affairs and Social Affairs in their quest to establish migration data mechanisms as envisioned in the African Agenda on Migration. These include the African Centre for Study and Research on Migration (ACSRM) – Mali, the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC) – Tunisia, the African Observatory for Migration and Development (OAMD) – Morocco and the Continental Operational Centre in Sudan.
• Aiding humanitarian responses on the continent and is specifically supporting the AU-EU-UN Taskforce on Libya, established during the AU-EU Abidjan Summit to oversee the humanitarian return of African Migrants stranded in Libya.
• Working closely with the AUC and other development partners such as African Development Bank (AfDB), European Commission (EC), and The World Bank (WB) to support the African Institute for Remittance (AIR), whose mission is “to work exclusively in areas of remittances, enhancing market competition to make remittance transfers to and within Africa, cheaper, safer, faster and easier…”