MEDIA ADVISORY

Technical workshop on labour migration statistics for the Africa region

What: Technical workshop on labour migration statistics for the Africa region.
Highlights for media will include opening remarks on 29 September by AUC Department of Economic Affairs, AUC Department of Social Affairs; Representatives of the International Labour Organisation, IOM and the UN Economic Commission for Africa

When: 29 September- 1 October
The meetings will start at 08:30

Where: New Conference Center. African Union Commission

Why: The main objectives of this technical workshop are to (a) validate the national data on labour migration and (b) build national capacity in key labour migration statistics.
More specifically the technical workshop will be aimed to:
• Validate existing data on labour migration received from the NSO
• Inform participants about the ILO`s global activities on the development of standards on migrant workers, and the set of meta-data questionnaires sent to the all ILO member states.
• Discuss and identify better strategies and mechanisms for improving data collection of labour migration statistics in Africa
• Improve national capacity to analyse and publish labour migration statistics from various sources, including administrative records, and
• Discuss and advise possible support on the above from different partners (AUC/ILO/IOM/ECA), including recommendations from participants on the way forward.

Background: The AUC/ILO/IOM/ECA Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa, known as the Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP) was adopted by the African Heads of State and Government during the 24th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly (January 2015). It is a four-year programme within a ten-year vision whose overall objective is to strengthen the effective governance and regulation of labour migration and mobility in Africa, under the rule of law with the involvement of all key stakeholders.
As international migration moves to the forefront of policy agendas, there is a corresponding interest in accurate and up-to date data and statistics. However, accurate and up-to date information on migration levels and trends is largely incomplete, notably on a special category of migrants such as migrant workers which is a focus of the JLMP.
In order to better implement the JLMP, accurate data and statistics on labour migration are needed to describe, reflect and support a better understanding of what is happening and to make more policy informed decisions on all facets of labour migration. For this reason, the international labour migration data collection was launched in June 2015 by the AUC for the Africa region.
This data collection procedure has taken full advantage of the recent experiences of the ILO in this area in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in Arab Counties in MENA Region. In fact, the age for youth in the ILO’s International Labour Migration Questionnaire (ILMQ) has been adjusted to the African context and converted to 15-35 years of age, and used as a template to be filled in by participating countries. However, in the very near future, in addition to the age group 15-35 it is highly advisable to collect data for the age group 15-24 as well, in order to achieve comparability of the African data with the other regions of the world. The questionnaire collects information on the stocks and flows of international migrants; both at home and abroad; including relevant disaggregation by labour force participation, educational attainment, occupation, industry and several other variables relevant for policy and research on the international labour market. It covers the period 2005-2014, as corresponding to the 2010 round of population on housing censuses in Africa, one of the main sources of migration data in Africa.
In this process, formal letters from the AUC were sent in June 2015 to national statistical offices (NSO) inviting them to nominate a relevant individual as a focal point and fill in the ILMQ with a deadline of five weeks for the data collection. The International Labour Migration Questionnaire has been sent to all the 54 countries in the Africa region.
The resulting Database will need to be validated by: (a) clarifying any missing sources or unclear definitions provided; (b) clarifying possible inconsistencies; and (c) seeking any additional sources or individual tables known to exist but missing from the responses. Approval and endorsement of the final set of indicators will be obtained from the planned technical Meeting in mid-September 2015 in Addis Ababa. Then the data collected will provide the necessary information for the 2015 Labour Migration Statistics in Africa Report and to the AUC and Department of Statistics of the ILO for dissemination in AUC website and ILOSTAT.

Media personnel are invited to cover the official opening ceremony starting at 08:30 on 29 September.

Further media inquiries should be directed to:
Mrs Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Communication and Information Division | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Follow us

Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission
Learn more at: http://www.au.int

About the African Union
The African Union spearheads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. AU Vision: to accelerate progress towards an integrated, prosperous and inclusive Africa, at peace with itself, playing a dynamic role in the continental and global arena, effectively driven by an accountable, efficient and responsive Commission. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en/

AFRICAN UNION

UNION AFRICAINE

UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: +251 11 551 7700 / +251 11 518 25 58/ Ext 2558
Web site: www. au.int
Emergency Meeting of the Executive Council
8 September 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME OF WORK

10.00 – 10.30 hrs. Opening Ceremony (Open to the Media)
- The Chairperson of the Executive Council declares the meeting open (2 minutes)
- Statement by H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission (10 minutes)
- Opening statement by H.E. Mr. Ahmed Ould Teguedi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Chairperson of the Executive Council (10 minutes)
10.30 – 13.00 hrs. Closed Session
10.30 – 10.40 hrs. Adoption of the Agenda and Organization of Work
10.40 – 11.00 hrs. Presentation of a Paper by the World Health Organization (WHO) Experts
11.00 – 11.15 hrs. Presentation of the Report by the Commissioner for Social Affairs
11.15 – 11.30 hrs. Presentation of the Socio-economic impacts of the Ebola and ways of minimizing them
11.30 – 13.00 hrs. Discussion of various aspects of the Ebola Crisis
• The policies put in place in different Member States to combat the crisis;
• The effects of closing borders and free movements of population across borders;
• Suspension of flights to affected countries;
• Stigmatization of nationals from affected countries;
• Holding/cancellation of AU meetings and its attendant consequences on the programmes of the Union;
• Africa’s response to the Crisis.
13.00 – 15.00 hrs. Lunch Break
15.00 – 17.00 hrs. Closed Session
Continuation of the Debate
17.00 – 17.30 hrs. Adoption of the Conclusions
17.30 – 18.00 hrs. Open Session
Closing by the Chairperson of the Executive Council
End of the Meeting