Prioritise migration as a development force

Caritas Europa co-signed an open letter with ACT Alliance EU calling for migration to be prioritised as a force for development.

Key milestones of the ongoing negotiations on the new EU-Africa partnership are fast approaching, with the AU-EU ministerial meeting scheduled for 26 October and the 6^th AU-EU summit planned for February 2022. In line with Caritas Africa and Caritas Europa’s initial proposals for the new EU-Africa Strategy, we expect these important events to lead to future AU-EU joint actions that are anchored in the respect of human rights and international law. The strategy should reflect the positive aspects of migration, and commit to significantly step-up cooperation on safe and legal pathways for migration and mobility.

In this joint open letter, Caritas Europa and ACT Alliance EU urge EU leaders to envision a new partnership that is guided by the understanding of migration as a natural part of life, as a right and as a powerful tool for development. This should entail prioritising, rather than neglecting, important areas of cooperation put forward by African and European civil society organisations and outlined in the Global Europe Instrument (Annexes II and III), the European Parliament Report on the new EU-Africa Strategy and the recently adopted European Parliament Own-Initiative Report on New Avenues for Legal Labour Migration, such as reducing remittance costs, promoting diaspora engagement and implementing the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.