President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the fullest potential and benefits of human migration will remain elusive unless there is an effective international corporation and greater solidarity.
He said the ability to leverage migration as a source of growth and shared prosperity demands a scrupulously neutral assessment of the root factors, the drivers, the benefits and challenges that accompany migration movement.
President Akufo-Addo said the skewed focus on migration policies on the challenges emanating from African states presents only a partial view of the problem.
The obscure and unbalanced nature of globalisation, which includes the prevailing contradictions in the global trading system, President Akufo-Addo said, had curtailed the policy choices and options opened to African countries, which have worsened and closed up their development efforts and institutional viability to mitigate the challenges associated with insecurity and migration.
Speaking at the 3rd Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum (KAIPTC) in Accra on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said in the emerging multi-polar world exemplified by the brave influence of BRICS countries, critical questions have emerged regarding human relationships in the context of migration and the structures and institutions that organised them.
The President challenged the participants at the forum to deliberate at length on “what form of global corporation must enhance the mutual benefits of migration for both countries of origin and destination and under what condition must population movement transform into threats and insecurity and what preventive mechanisms exist.
Migration, the President indicated, had become a highly emotional and sensitive subject, which sometimes has been misrepresented and instrumentalised to incite fear and outrage.
Population movements, according to President Akufo-Addo, have always been an integral part of human experience often providing enormous opportunities and serving as a vital catalyst for development and shared prosperity for both origin and destination states and societies.
At the same time, however, he said movements are not without difficulties, whose challenges have become varied and complex in the context of globalisation and the new technologies of communications.
Equally critical, the President disclosed, is the phenomenon of climate change which has accentuated the threats posed by food, water, insecurity and droughts.
Available Data suggest that 3.5 billion people representing 40 percent of the world’s population living in places including Africa are highly exposed to the impacts of climate change.
Although African states are least responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases, they bear the brunt of the development and insecurity impacts of climate.
At the same time, however, the linkages between climate change and its potential to expose people to diverse forms of insecurity show that most population flows have their sources in both domestic and global injustice.
“In effect, population movement involving the citizens of African countries are both the outcome of the same capacity deficit on the continent and a product of the interaction between African states and the global political economy,” the President stated.
Migration remains a global issue with significant societal and geopolitical implications. While international and regional bodies like the UN, AU and ECOWAS acknowledge the importance of migration and have established protocols, implementation challenges persist. These include inadequate understanding of protocols, insufficient border security, corruption, and inconsistencies in regional immigration procedures.
KAPS 2024 thus aims to tackle these challenges head-on. The forum will feature broad thematic discussions on migration, sustainable development, conflicts and societal resilience in the multi-polar world order, drivers of migration in Africa, and their impact on conflicts and peacebuilding.