Avellon Williams
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO- Over the weekend, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) signed an agreement to enhance and strengthen migration cooperation.
“This renewed partnership will encourage a broader participation of all relevant state and non-state actors to design and implement evidence-based and gender-responsive policies and migration frameworks to empower migrants and achieve inclusive, sustainable socio-economic development,” IOM Director General António Vitorino said after signing the agreement at the 10th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the OACPS in the Angolan capital.
This agreement represents a new chapter in the long-standing OACPS-IOM partnership, extending cooperation to all aspects of migration governance. It encompasses regional integration, migration, and development, migrants’ rights, labour migration, migration data, migrant health, climate change, gender and youth issues in migration, countering racism, xenophobia, human trafficking, and smuggling, as well as countering discrimination, xenophobia, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.
As an observer and co-secretariat of the OACPS and EU Dialogue on Migration and Development, IOM strengthens its role in supporting policy dialogue on migration.
Together, OACPS and IOM will promote convergent approaches to migration governance and well-managed migration policies across continents and regions through this new partnership.
