Ethiopia implementing GCM in line with its national priorities

Addis Ababa, October 9, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia is implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration incorporating the priority objectives into its national development policies and plans, as stated by Minister of Justice Gedion Timothewos.

The Minister made this statement during his opening speech at the Second Regional Review of Implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in Africa. This intergovernmental conference, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) — which serves as the Coordinator of the United Nations Network on Migration, a structure comprising 39 UN entities, will take place in collaboration with the African Union Commission from 9-10 October 2024.

This conference was preceded by a Multi-stakeholder Hearing on 8 October.

The event brought together among others the Director General of IOM Amy Pope, Executive Secretary of ECA Claver Gatete, representatives of African Member States, intergovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, civil society, the private sector and other key stakeholders.

In his opening remarks at the governmental conference, Justice Minister Gedion Timothewos asserted since Africa is a hub for dynamic and complex human mobility characterized by mixed and irregular migration, the GCM offers an important opportunity for member states to address all aspects of their migration governance in a comprehensive manner.

Ethiopia, as a source, transit and, destination country for migrants, played a key role in the GCM process from its inception throughout its development and adoption, the minister noted.

Gedion revealed that Ethiopia formally launched the implementation of GCM in 2019. In the same year, the government of Ethiopia identified priorities from the 23 objectives of the GCM and selected 10 priority objectives in line with its national priorities to accelerate progress in the implementation of the Compact.

The Minister indicated that this was followed up with actual implementation through mainstreaming the priorities to national policies and programs in conjunction with SDGs.

“In 2020, Ethiopia became the first champion country of the GCM in the Horn of Africa region. The country has also participated in various regional global review platforms of the GCM. These platforms have enabled Ethiopia to exchange insights and learn lessons and best practices with other countries that are part of this framework,” he asserted.

According to Gedion, these platforms have also helped his country to promote effective implementation, follow-up and review mechanisms.

“To this end, Ethiopia produced its national voluntary report in 2020. With the mainstreaming of the identified priorities of the GCM, Ethiopia has taken significant steps in its implementation and achieved notable progress in all aspects of migration governance,” the Justice Minister pointed out.

He claimed that his government is taking key measures in terms of strengthening policy, legal, and institutional frameworks for the implementation of the compact. In particular, the government of Ethiopia has shown strong commitment, among other things, through the statutory establishment of all government and society-approach led by the country’s deputy prime minister.

Building upon what has been done so far, the government of Ethiopia intends to revisit and redefine its priority objectives by taking into account contemporary challenges and migration realities, the Minister further remarked.

He also believes that the GCM second regional review gathering will provide participant nations and other stakeholders an opportunity to the assess the implementation the compact and share experiences with respect to approaches, priorities, good practices and common challenges. Notably, member states could take this exercise as a good opportunity as they prepare for the upcoming International Migration Review Forum.

The Minister also expressed his gratitude to IOM for its unwavering support to Ethiopia in the implementation of the GCM. He also thanked ECA and the UN Migration Agency for choosing Addis Ababa to host this event.

It is learned that the 2nd Regional Review aims to facilitate increased regional collaboration among Member States in reviewing the implementation of the GCM and formulating recommendations for the next IMRF in 2026. The framework for this second round provides for discussions on regional priorities and gaps in GCM implementation, opportunities for regional cooperation on migration, integration of GCM objectives into existing migration governance frameworks, and monitoring of regional progress and challenges.