Migrants day and migration policy in Nigeria
ON December 4, 2000, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed December 18, of every year as International Migrants Day. This was exactly 10 years after the adoption of the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families – (UN-ICRMW) popularly called the UN Migrant Workers Convention, ICRMW, 1990 by the UN General Assembly on December 18, 1990.
The United Nations proclamation of the International Migrants’ Day is an important step, offering a rallying point for everyone across the world who is concerned with the protection of migrants. The International Migrants Day is seen first, as an opportunity to recognise the contributions made by millions of migrants to the economies of their host and home countries, and secondly to promote respect for their basic human rights.
In his report to the General Assembly in October 2013, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon put forward an ambitious eight-point agenda to “make migration work” for all: migrants, societies of origin and societies of destination alike. “Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future. It is part of the social fabric, part of our very make-up as a human family,” the Secretary-General said in his remarks.
People move from one place to another for various reasons, including poverty, unemployment, famine, political and religious crises, natural disasters, and so on. Essentially, migration is the process of temporary or permanent relocation of a person from his or her place of primary abode to another place, in search of better living, family reunification, further studies or other reasons.
Migration has fuelled growth, innovation and entrepreneurship both at origin and destination countries. For example, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicates that Nigeria receives over USD21 billion in official Diasporas’ remittances as at 2012. In 2014 Nigerians accounted for an estimated 8,700 out of the 283,532 irregular migrants entering EU borders, many of whom risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean. Nigeria is also on the receiving end of migration, attracting an estimated three million labour workers from many of the neighbouring countries.
Government is unable to effectively manage the growing population of internally displaced persons, with only 10% hosted in regular IDP camps, and with international humanitarian agencies providing most of the severely limited assistance and protection. Trafficking and smuggling of Nigerian citizens remain a critical challenge, with regular reports of women and children exploited for sexual purposes and forced labour both domestically and in and beyond the EU.
Nigeria labour migration policy of 2014 and the 2015 overarching National Migration Policy shared the framework for the deelopment of policies on the guiding principles of the African Union Strategic Framework on Migration and Development and the 2006 African Union Common Position on Migration and Development covering a number of areas. The political fervor in Nigeria for timely action to address most of the policy elements that are long overdue for implementation remains a challenge.
All migrants, regardless of their status, must be able to seek access to justice and to social services such as health care, education, police, social services, public housing, etc without fear of being denounced to immigration enforcement authorities, detained and deported. Without such firewalls, migrants will never report human rights violations and perpetrators will benefit from practical immunity.
• Olatuyi is an international migration and development policy expert.
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1 Comments
UN new sustainability goals seems to have been oblivious of plight of millions of refugees and migrants presently a serious humanitarian situation
We will review and take appropriate action.