The Observatory, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the ACP countries, will provide information on climate change and South-South migration.
25 October 2010: The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Observatory on Migration, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the ACP countries, was launched officially at a special ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, held on 25 October 2010.
The Observatory is intended to provide reliable data on migration flows in ACP countries, with climate change as one of its key research topics. The Observatory will be run by the International Migration Organization (IOM) and and a consortium of 15 partners and four associates, with nearly 8 million Euros funding from the EU and additional financial support from Switzerland and IOM. It will cover all six ACP regions (West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) and start with pilot programmes in 12 countries (Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, and Trinidad and Tobago). The Observatory is expected to introduce an innovative approach to enhance research capacities in ACP countries and assist in designing better policies to enhance the contribution of migration to development. [EU Press Release] [IOM Press Release]