Activities

On 5 - 7 October 2022, Ethiopia, with Germany as co-host, welcomed delegates from Khartoum Process (KP) and Rabat Process (RP) partner countries and organisations to Addis Ababa for a Thematic Meeting (TM) on Climate Change and Migration: Addressing Impacts & Adaptation Strategies for Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change. This meeting, addressing climate mobility for the first time in the framework of both dialogues, aimed at establishing an understanding of the nuanced nature of the climate change - human mobility nexus, with a focus on the regions involved; establishing a conceptual framework for mainstreaming climate mobility into migration governance and other connected areas such as urban planning, while sharing experiences on strategies and initiatives at the local, national, and regional levels on human mobility in the context of climate change. Furthermore, the meeting intended to explore the role of migration dialogues such as the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process in deepening intergovernmental cooperation and facilitating collaborative responses to climate-induced mobility. This should also include identifying areas for further exploration and recommendations for further implementation and cooperation among and within the dialogues.

An extraordinary Steering Committee Meeting took place on 10 October 2022 in Vienna, Austria, to further discuss the Steering Committee composition and enlargement due to Sudan’s continued inability and current suspension from the African Union. To fill temporarily the vacant seat in the Steering Committee and restore the geographical balance, a temporary replacement for Sudan will be sought from among the African Khartoum Process members through a call for interest. 

On the further expansion of the Steering Committee membership, it was agreed that 1 member/continent should be added as an acceptable way forward. Further discussions on the modalities however need to be further elaborated by the voluntary working group (composed by Egypt and The Netherlands) until the next Steering Committee Meeting. Furthermore, there was a general consensus on the possibility of adding an emergency clause to the existing Rules of Procedure that would allow Steering Committee Members to also propose and select a Chair for the Process from outside the Steering Committee in case of an emergency situation.

On 12 – 13 July 2022, Kenya, with Germany as co-host, welcomed delegates from Khartoum Process partner countries and organisations to Mombasa, Kenya, for a Thematic Meeting (TM) on Legal Pathways: Talent and Skills Mobility Partnerships to Match Labour Market Needs. This meeting built on the successful outcomes of the TM  on Legal Frameworks and Policy Development:  Optimising the Benefits of Organised Labour Migration hosted by Egypt in 2019, narrowing down the focus of the extensive topic of labour migration, to explore specifically the matter of talent and skills mobility partnerships to match labour market needs.

The meeting objectives were to:

• Establish a conceptual framework for discussions on enhancing the effectiveness of skills mobility partnerships;
• Share experiences on practices and procedures at the national and regional level on labour migration governance in general and skills mobility in particular;
• Understand the constraints of governments in the formulation of policies that promote easy, safe and predictable pathways for migration;
• Identify areas in national and regional policies and frameworks that need improvement to promote better cooperation on talent and skills mobility;
• Propose recommendations for further implementation.

On 24 – 26 May 2022, South Sudan hosted a Regional training for officials of border management agencies on international cooperation to combat cross-border crime.

During the 2.5 days training event, officials of border management agencies operational at the border and professionals in charge of border management and law enforcement policy in the Khartoum Process African region and the neighbouring Central African Republic were invited to exchange and expand their knowledge on challenges and good practices on cross-border cooperation to address cross-border crimes, such as trafficking in human beings, smuggling of migrants, and terrorism.

A total of 28 participants of different ranks and seniority in law enforcement agencies from 8 countries attended and were led throughout the learning process by ICMPD experts in border management and trafficking in human beings (THB). Their presentations and interactive exercises were complemented by contributions by Brig.Gen. Emmanuel Ndayegamiye from the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) and online by Mr. Akseli Saviranta from Frontex.

On 22 – 23 March 2022, Khartoum Process partners met for the 8^th Khartoum Process Senior Officials’ Meeting, which was preceded by a Steering Committee Meeting on the morning of 22 March. The Senior Officials’ Meeting featured the Chairmanship handover from The Netherlands to South Sudan and marked the commencement of the South Sudanese Chairmanship. Delegates discussed the recent developments within the Khartoum Process and within partner organisations, deliberated upon the Work Plan for 2022/23 and explored new governance strategies for the Steering Committee.

Reflecting on the social and political developments since the last Senior Officials’ Meeting in March 2020, delegates acknowledged the value of the Khartoum Process as a dialogue platform in times of crisis, reactively adapting its agenda and allowing their participating countries to explore COVID-19 implications on mobility and migration, jointly exploring responses to these novel migration dynamics. In this context, delegates stressed the need to further ensure dynamism and flexibility, in particular in the governance of the Process.

On 24 and 25 November 2021, Switzerland, with Ethiopia as co-host, welcomed delegates from the Khartoum Process to Geneva for a Thematic Meeting on “Return, Reintegration, and Integration: Finding Durable Solutions”.

The objectives of the meeting were to facilitate the sharing of good practices and harness the strong cooperation built under the Khartoum Process, which benefit the region and the migrants concerned. The Thematic Meeting capitalised on the knowledge and inputs shared by a broad range of experts on the three thematic pillars (return, reintegration and integration) during a Virtual Roundtable held on 21 September 2021. The roundtable was organised as a means of setting the grounds for in-depth deliberations, establishing a conceptual framework of durable solutions in all three fields for the discussion and identifying priority areas for further exploration.

On 21 September 2021, Switzerland and Ethiopia co-hosted a Virtual Roundtable titled Return, Reintegration and Integration: Finding Durable Solutions.

The thematic focus of this virtual roundtable is at the core of several guiding documents in the framework of the Khartoum Process. The Declaration of the Ministerial Conference of the Khartoum Process from 28 November 2014 lists addressing irregular migration, including through cooperation on return, in particular voluntary return, and readmission as one of the thematic priorities of the Khartoum Process. Similarly, the Joint Valletta Action Plan outlines strengthening cooperation in order to facilitate the return and sustainable reintegration of irregular migrants as a priority under Domain 5: Return, Readmission and Reintegration.

While members of the Khartoum Process have undertaken significant progress and efforts towards strengthening dialogue and cooperation under this thematic priority, the interrelated topics of return, reintegration, and integration were last explored in the framework of the Process in 2016, on the occasion of the Thematic Meeting on Return, Readmission and Reintegration, co-chaired by Ethiopia and Italy.

On 29 September 2021, Khartoum Process Steering Committee members convened in person for the first time since March 2020, when they met on the occasion of the Steering Committee Meeting in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Due to the global health crisis, which affected both migration dynamics and the modus operandi of the Khartoum Process, this Steering Committee Meeting provided a most welcome opportunity for Steering Committee representatives to reconvene and jointly deliberate on how the Process can move forward in a way that addresses the needs of the members and accounts for the new realities.

 During this half-day Steering Committee Meeting, held in Brussels, Belgium, the following agenda items were presented and discussed, with a series of key action points agreed upon: updates on the 2021 workplan and proposals for 2022, governance related issues, such as the Chairmanship of the Process, as well as the broader issue of the resumption of the Khartoum Process activities and the need to “reset” the Process in a way that reflects the current realities and several ongoing limitations linked to travel possibilities. Joint Valletta Action Plan (JVAP) update and next steps in this process were also discussed.