16/06/2016
Over 50 countries participate in Rabat in a meeting co-chaired by Morocco and Spain on asylum and international protection organised under the umbrella of the Rabat Process, the European cooperation programme managed by the FIIAPP.
Representantes de más de 50 países europeos y africanos participan en la reunión.Representatives of over 50 European and African countries are participating in the meeting.
Civil servants, delegates and experts from over 50 European and African countries and international organisations are participating in Rabat in the meeting on asylum and international protection organised by the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development, also known as the Rabat Process. The purpose is to address this issue at a moment when the migratory flow has increased in countries like Central Africa, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, and in northern Nigeria due to the presence of Boko Haram. The number of displaced persons and refugees has also increased in the working zone of the Rabat Process and neighbouring countries to double previous levels.
This meeting, co-chaired by Morocco and Spain, which started yesterday and ends today, includes the participation of over 120 people. In the opening session, the co-chairs and representatives of the European Union, United Nations, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed the pressing need to address the management of asylum and international protection. Immediately afterwards, representatives of Ivory Coast, France and the Central African Republic presented the growing challenges in this area by relating their national experiences.
During this first day, the humanitarian consequences of two regional crises were also discussed: the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and the threat of Boko Haram. According to the UNHCR, 1,700 people have lost their lives while seeking protection in another country from the coast of Libya. A figure that represents 30 times that of 2014.
Today’s sessions will share initiatives and current proposals on asylum and international protection at both the national and regional level. In addition, lasting solutions will be sought for protection.
The Rabat Process is a project financed by the European Union and implemented by a consortium of organisations made up of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the International Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).
