African migration brings benefits, says Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Former president of Liberia tells gathering immigrants bring diversity and culture and contribute to societies
Dakar — African migration towards Europe is inevitable and a positive phenomenon, says Africa’s first female president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, calling for an end to the perception of migration as a “crisis”.
“We believe that the statistics, the research and reports are clear, that African migration has had a very positive impact,” Johnson Sirleaf said. “Not only for Africa but for the countries in which they are hosted because they do bring diversity, they bring culture … and they also contribute to the life of the country,” she said.
The former president of Liberia spoke ahead of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s annual forum at the weekend, held in Ivory Coast with a focus on African migration.
Founded by Sudanese billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, the foundation gives an annual prize for African political leadership that Johnson Sirleaf won in 2018.
Migration policies are often based on misperceptions, Johnson Sirleaf said.
Africans make up only 14% of global migration flows and most stay within the African continent, according to the Ibrahim Forum Report. About 65% of the world’s migrants come from Europe and Asia.
African migrants are mostly young and educated and almost half are women, the report reads. They spend about 85% of their incomes in the host country.
Skills, capital and technology
“These are people moving across borders carrying skills, carrying capital, carrying technology, information, creating jobs, paying taxes,” Johnson Sirleaf said.
Population growth has caused the flow of migrants to increase in recent years, sparking fears in Europe, she said.
Migrants and refugees reaching Europe by sea have fallen from more than a million at the peak in 2015 to about 140,000 people in 2018, according to UN data.
Thousands are trapped in Libya, where reports of slavery and abuse are common, since Europe has taken measures to prevent them crossing the Mediterranean.
The EU has decided to cease maritime patrols that have saved thousands of migrants from drowning because no country agreed to open its ports to the rescue ships.
Johnson Sirleaf said African and European countries must work together to regulate migration, not try to stop it.
“I think efforts are being made on both sides to ensure that this is not a crisis,” she said.
“It will continue to happen, so we have to accept that.”
Reuters