Migration policy framework for Africa and plan of action (2018 – 2030) 1. Background to the AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa In an era of rapid globalisation, human migration has reached unprecedented levels and is a defining feature of our time. Throughout its history, Africa has experienced migratory movements, both voluntary and forced, which have contributed to its contemporary demographic landscape. In many parts of the continent, communities are spread across two or three nation-States, and movement is often not limited by political boundaries. Cross-border migration in Africa is an important livelihood and coping strategy during times of ecological and economic downturn, and lack of employment and decent work, and is key to understanding, as well as forecasting, the onset and evolution of humanitarian disasters. Over the last decades, deteriorating political, socioeconomic and environmental conditions, as well as armed conflict, insecurity, environmental degradation and poverty, have been significant root causes of mass migration and forced displacement in Africa. The globalisation process has also facilitated the movement of people across the various regions of Africa, and to other regions outside the continent, as the number of migrants continues to increase. Due to these trends, migration is a major issue in the 21st Century, and poses social, economic and political challenges for policy makers engaged 16 in the management of migration for the betterment of the continent. In light of the challenges posed by migration and its ramifications (socio-economic, political etc), the OAU Council of Ministers adopted Decision CM⁄Dec 614 (LXXIV) during the 74th Ordinary Session in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001, which called for the development of a Migration Policy Framework, and mandated the following: zz To develop a strategic framework for migration policy in Africa that could contribute to addressing the challenges posed by migration and to ensure the integration of migration and related issues into the national and regional agenda for security, stability, development and cooperation (5); zz To work towards the free movement of people and to strengthen intra-regional and inter-regional cooperation in matters concerning migration, on the basis of the established processes of migration at the regional and sub-regional levels; (6) and zz To create an environment conducive to facilitating the participation of migrants, in particular those in the Diaspora, in the development of their own countries (7). This culminated in the AU Migration Policy Framework (MPFA) which was adopted in 16