Migration and asylum: updates to the EU-Africa 'Joint Valletta Action Plan' on the way
Topic
Country/Region
09 February 2021
In November 2015 European and African heads of state met at a summit in Valletta, Malta, "to discuss a coordinated answer to the crisis of migration and refugee governance in Europe." Since then joint activities on migration and asylum have increased significantly, according to documents published here by Statewatch. The Council is now examining an update to the 'Joint Valletta Action Plan' (JVAP) and considering how to give it "a renewed sense of purpose".
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See: Joint Valletta Action Plan - Updated version (Council document 5722/21, LIMITE, 9 February 2021, pdf):
And: Five years after the adoption of the Joint Valetta Action Plan: debate on the way forward – discussion paper (Council document 5721/21, LIMITE, 9 February 2021, pdf, emphasis in original):
"The JVAP has an important bearing within the GAMM [Global Approach on Migration and Mobility] and in the EU migration policies context, since it established the first ever framework for exchanges and monitoring of migration priorities involving a significant number of both European and African partners. The JVAP plays an important role in the implementation of the proposed new Pact on Migration and Asylum, tabled by the Commission in September 2020.
"Over the last five years, the JVAP’s operational focus has grown in size and scope, as evidenced by the JVAP database.
Several other benefits stem from the strategic linkage between the JVAP and the two Processes. One worth mentioning is the growing operationalisation of the regional migration dialogues through, in particular, the development of resources with an operational focus and the participant profiling, increasingly adapted to the stakes of the meetings. For example, the Rabat Process has developed the labelling mechanism, the reference countries system and the laboratory of ideas to step up the implementation and monitoring of each area of the Marrakesh Action Plan."
"The JVAP is therefore widely seen as having contributed to shaping the political, technical, and financial architecture of EU-Africa engagement on migration and mobility. At the same time, the JVAP provides a forum of discussion that rises to the political level and so could serve as a forum for debate and discussion in the future, especially should political circumstances call for high-level multilateral engagement on migration."
Find out more about the 'Valletta Process' in the Statewatch Database
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