Pres. Sirleaf warns against anti – migrant policies

Liberia’s outgoing President Ellen Johnson–Sirleaf has warned against growing global xenophobic migration policies which has exacerbated the recent migration crisis.

In her opening statement Monday, 15 January at a High Level Panel on Migration in Africa in Monrovia, President Sirleaf acknowledged that there were successful migrants who managed to resettle and contribute highly to the growth of their new societies while supporting the ones they left behind.

“Liberia is a good case in point,” Mrs. Sirleaf says, recalling that when there was no functional government here for many years, Liberians traveled to other countries and were hosted there and they supported the nation.

She says many questions need to be answered not just in Africa but throughout the world to help nations that are facing the migration crisis so as to stop the xenophobic policies that bars people from different cultures and regions from entering their countries.

Mrs. Sirleaf says the objective of the High Level Panel is expected to enhance the production of migration relieving knowledge to support formulation of evidenced – based policies, and to advocate policies and to mobilize support for practices that promote national migration for the development of Africa.

Earlier, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina says there is no doubt that the issue of migration is at the heart of debate in Europe given the migration crisis, amidst a dominating projection of Africa in negative light. Dr. Adesina suggests the need to critically examine the drivers of migration, the economics and the patterns of migration.

He says any effort to address migration challenges in Africa must pay attention to rising rural poverty, arguing that poverty is an important driver of migration and Africa’s rural areas are witnessing a mass exodus to urban areas. Dr. Adesina notes that already, overpopulated cities are stretching beyond their limits, unable to provide quality decent jobs, affordable housing and basic infrastructures and decent lives.

By Winston W. Parley–Edited by Othello B. Garblah