Tag Archives: ACP

by | 23 Jun 2010 · 05:04

EU and ACP Fail to Reach Agreement on Migration in Revised Cotonou Agreement

Representatives of the EU and ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific group of states) signed the second revision to the Cotonou Agreement in Ouagadougou on 22 June.  The Agreement provides the basic framework for relations between the EU and ACP states.  The parties failed to reach agreement on revisions to Article 13, the migration provision.

The EU has been pressuring the ACP states to agree to changes in the Cotonou Agreement which would make it easier for EU member states to return illegal or irregular migrants from the EU to their home countries.  ACP states resisted incorporating such a provision in the Agreement, instead wanting to deal with readmission issues on a bi-lateral basis.

As a result of this ongoing disagreement, Article 13 of the Agreement will remain unchanged for the time being.  The EU and ACP instead agreed on a Joint Declaration (Declaration III) which was signed yesterday in conjunction with the revised Cotonou Agreement.  It reads as follows:

“JOINT DECLARATION ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT (ARTICLE 13)

The Parties agree to strengthen and deepen their dialogue and cooperation in the area of migration, building on the following three pillars of a comprehensive and balanced approach to migration:

1. Migration and Development, including issues relating to diasporas, brain drain and remittances;

2. Legal migration including admission, mobility and movement of skills and services; and

3. Illegal migration, including smuggling and trafficking of human beings and border management, as well as readmission.

Without prejudice to the current Article 13, the Parties undertake to work out the details of this enhanced cooperation in the area of migration.  They further agree to work towards the timely completion of this dialogue and to report about the progress made to the next ACP-EC Council.”

Click here for the full 2010 amendments to the Cotonou Agreement.

Click here for EU Council Press Release.

Click here for the Secretariat of the ACP States’ web page pertaining to the Cotonou Agreement.

Click here for the EU web page pertaining to the Cotonou Agreement.

Click here, here, and here for previous posts on the Migration provision of the Cotonou Agreement.

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by | 10 Apr 2010 · 04:38

CONCORD Briefing Paper on Revisions to Cotonou Agreement

CONCORD, the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development, prepared an updated briefing paper regarding the ongoing negotiations concerning revisions to the Cotonou Agreement for the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly session held 27 March to 1 April in Tenerife.

Excerpts regarding Article 13 (Migration) from an updated CONCORD Cotonou Working Group Briefing Paper:

“Migration, still unresolved – The revision of Article 13 on Migration is a major stumbling block to the negotiations.  The two sides failed to reach an agreement by the extraordinary ACP-EU Council on 19 March. EU and ACP states agreed in a joint declaration to continue dialogue on the migration article and report to the joint ACP/EU Council in June 2011.

The bulk of the disagreement lies on the clause on readmission. The EU side would like the clause on readmission in the Cotonou Agreement to become self-executive and binding for all ACP countries without needing complementary bilateral agreements. This will imply unmanageable obligations for many countries and hence an increased risk of migrants rights violations throughout the process of readmission.

In no way should EC and MS ODA [Official Development Assistance] be dependent on the signature of readmission agreements (being bilateral or multilateral).  By making development aid conditional on cooperation on border control, the EU is turning development aid into a tool for implementing restrictive and security-driven immigration policies which are at odds with its commitment to make migration work for development.

Article 13 should rather be focusing on concrete opportunities for increased mobility and ensuring that ACP states are assisted in their national efforts to ‘make migration work for development’ (countering of the negative economic and social effects of brain drain and care drain, sustainable migration opportunities, facilitating remittances…). This would bring progress towards Policy Coherence for Development in the migration area. Opportunities of legal migration, including for low skilled workers, and respect of migrants’ rights are necessary conditions for exploiting the development potential of migration. Provisions on legal migration should be as strong and binding. Finally, EU and ACP states should ratify the UN Convention on Migrants Rights and ratify it themselves.”

Click here for full text of CONCORD Cotonou Working Group Briefing paper.

Click here and here for earlier related posts.

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by | 23 Mar 2010 · 04:47

Migration Provision of the Cotonou Agreement

Eurostep Weekly notes the failure of the EU and ACP to agree on mutually acceptable revisions to Article 13, the Migration provision, of the Cotonou Agreement and calls attention to a February 2010 briefing paper issued by CONCORD’s Cotonou Working Group.

Negotiations between the EU and ACP regarding the second revisions to the Agreement are to continue and are expected to be concluded before the next ACP-EU Ministerial Council in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 3-4 June.

Excerpts from CONCORD’s briefing paper:

“[***]  Migration – The revision of Article 13 on Migration of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement aims at bringing the current provision into line with the Global Approach to Migration centered on three pillars: legal migration, fight against illegal migration and the synergies between migration and development. However, there is a real danger that the fight against illegal migration, strongly advocated by the EU side, is prioritized and that ODA [Official Development Assistance] is used as a means and incentive to encourage legal and policy frameworks in origin and transit countries to limit migration and restrict migrants’ rights.

Currently, Article 13 includes a clause on readmission, but to become operational, it requires the implementation of bilateral readmission agreements. The implementation of readmission agreements includes important risks of:

– inhumane and degrading treatment

– extended an arbitrary treatment in the countries migrants are brought back to

– a breach of the principle of non-refoulement of asylum seekers when these countries do not guarantee access to a fair asylum procedure

– a breach of article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention which stipulates that a person should not be submitted to the risk of inhumane and degrading treatment, nor deported to a country where he or she risks exposure to such treatment.

The EU side would like the clause on readmission in the Cotonou Agreement to become self-executive and binding for all ACP countries without needing complementary bilateral agreements. This will imply unmanageable obligations for many countries and hence an increased risk of migrants rights violations throughout the process of readmission. In no way should EC and MS ODA be dependent on the signature of readmission agreements (being bilateral or multilateral). By making development aid conditional on cooperation on border control, the EU is turning development aid into a tool for implementing restrictive and security-driven immigration policies which are at odds with its commitment to make migration work for development…..”

Click here for CONCORD’s Briefing Paper.

Click here for Eurostep Weekly article.

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by | 22 Mar 2010 · 06:01

Revisions to Cotonou Agreement’s Migration Provisions

The EU and the 78 ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Nations agreed in principle on 19 March to the 2010 revisions to the 2000 Cotonou Agreement.  But the ACP and EU failed to agree on proposed revisions relating to the deportations of irregular migrants from the EU and on proposed revisions relating to gay and lesbian rights.

The revised agreement is scheduled to be signed in June in Burkina Faso.  According to the AFP “[a]n ACP diplomat said … that the 78 nations wanted the question of immigrant returnees to be dealt with in bilateral deals, country by country, rather than as part of Cotonou.”

Click here for the Joint Declaration on Migration and Development issued on 19 March by the EU and the ACP relating to Article 13 (Migration) of the Cotonou Agreement.

Click here and here for articles.

Click here and here for EU Press Statements.

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