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Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in West Africa (Dakar, Senegal, 13-14 November 2008)

Migration, 14 November 2008

The "Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in West Africa" was held on 13-14 November 2008 in Dakar, Senegal. It was co-hosted by UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and supported by financing from the European Commission as part of its broader assistance to the development and implementation of the 10-Point Plan of Action on Refugee Protection and Mixed Migration. Additional contributions were received from other donors. The principal objective of the conference was to enhance the response to mixed migration in West Africa through fuller utilization of the existing regional frameworks and processes, in particular the ECOWAS free movement protocols.

Below is a copy of the binder distributed at the conference as well as several documents generated during and after the meeting. All documents are in English and French unless otherwise noted.

1. MAIN CONFERENCE DOCUMENTS

2. UNHCR TEN-POINT PLAN ON MIXED MIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION

  • UNHCR: Refugee Protection and Mixed Migration: A 10-Point Plan of Action [English] [Français]
  • UNHCR's 10-Point Plan in Central America, Western Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Asia – a two year project [English]

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MIXED MIGRATION

  • UNHCR High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges – Theme: Refugee Protection, Durable Solutions and International Migration – Chairman's Summary (December 12, 2007) [English]
  • Refugee or Migrant [English] [Français]
  • UNHCR Recommendations for Ministerial Conference of the Euro African Process Paris October 2008 [English]
  • Beyond the nexus Jeff Crisp April 2008 [English]
  • Promoting Integration through Mobility – Free Movement under ECOWAS [English]
  • IOM Discussion Note – Mixed Migration Flows [English] [Français]
  • Irregular Migration from West Africa through the Maghreb to the European Union [English]
  • IOM Matrix on rights-based initiatives to address mixed migration [English]

4. LOCAL INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES IN WEST AFRICA

  • Multipartite agreement for the local integration of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in Nigeria [English]
  • Applicability of Ceased Circumstances for Sierra Leonan refugees [English] [Français]
  • Towards Local integration of Liberian and Sierra Leonan refugees [English]
  • Comparative Table Standards of Treatments for Selected Rights of Refugees [English] [Français]

5. SELECTED LEGAL AND POLICY RESOURCES

International Refugee Law

  • UN Convention relating to the status of refugees (1951) and its Protocol (1967) [English] [Français]
  • OAU Convention (1969) [English, Français]
  • Guidelines on International Protection Victims of Trafficking [English]

International Human Rights Law (external links)

  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) [English]
  • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [English]
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women [English]
  • Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) [English]
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child [English]
  • International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families [English]
  • OHCHR Fact sheet 24 The International Convention on Migrant Workers and its Committee (2005) [English]
  • International Migration and Human Rights – Global Migration Group [English]

International Criminal Law

  • 2000 Protocol to prevent Trafficking [English]
  • 2000 Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime [English] [Français]

International Law of Sea

Regional Migration Law and Policy


Download the collection of roundtable documents in zipped format for offline browsing and/or printing:
Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in West Africa
[zipped file, 31.7Mb]

Conference poster [PDF, 2.59Mb]. Download the regional conference poster and banner here [zipped file, 11.7Mb]

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