Migration statistics unit to be created

The International Organisation for Migration and the Economic Community of West African States are to establish a Migration Statistics Unit for West Africa, the IOM reported on Monday. The unit, to be set up during a five-day workshop to discuss international migration that is being held in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, would improve understanding of migration issues and help the establish effective migration programs and policies, it added. The IOM and ECOWAS organised the Dakar workshop, which is being attended by 50 migration experts from the 15 member states of the West African community: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, together with the government of Mauritania (a non-member). "The workshop builds on the Dakar Declaration adopted by governments on 13 October 2000 at the West African Regional Ministerial Conference and on the December seminar on setting up mechanisms to manage migration and to set up migration policies," IOM stated. Established in 1951, IOM is an international organisation working with migrants and governments in an effort to provide humane responses to migration challenges. It maintains close working relations with UN bodies and operational agencies.