strategic vision

Type:  Regional Consultative Proces on Migration (region covered: Africa)

Association with regional or multi-stakeholder organization: Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Established: 2000

Objectives

The Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) creates a framework for a regular migration dialogue among the Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to enhance inter-state cooperation in an effort to improve migration governance through:

  • Discussion of migration issues among SADC Member States in an informal seeting, sharing experience and challenges, and finding solutions collectively, to improve migration management in the SADC region.
  • Promotion of the positive aspects of migration among SADC Member States; and
  • Development of regional institutional capacities to improve migration governance while strengthening the capacity of Governments to meet their migration challenges in a comprehensive, interactive, self-reliant and, ultimately, sustainable way.

Current Thematic Focus

Specific areas of focus include:

  • Border management
  • Combatting human trafficking
  • Combatting migrant smuggling
  • Irregular migration
  • Plow migration
  • Migrant health
  • Migrants' rights
  • Migration and development
  • Return and readmission
  • Migration governance
  • Unaccompanied migrant children / separated children

Chairing Country:

  • Current Chair: The Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Past Chair: Malawi (2022), Mozambique (2021), Tanzania (2020), Namibia (2019), South Africa (2017), Eswatini (2016)

Secretariat

  • IOM provides technical and administrative support to the MIDSA.
Members

Member States  (16 States)

  • Angola
  • Botswana
  • Comoros
  • Eswatini
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Lesotho
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Seychelles
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Note: Founding Members: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Observers

Observer States (9 States)

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Netherlands, The
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States of America

Observer Organizations (6 Organizations referred by MIDSA as "partner organizations")

  • African Union Commission  International Labor Organization (ILO) Save the Children International United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Meetings
  • November 7-10, 2022, Malawi, MIDSA Senior Officials Meeting “Strengthening Migration Management in Southern Africa through Scaling-up Interventions that Facilitate Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Southern Africa”
  • October 25-28, 2021, Maputo, Mozambique, MIDSA Ministerial Meeting “Reviewing Approaches to Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration in the Context of COVID-19 in the Southern Africa Region”
  • June 25-28, 2019 Windhoek, Namibia, Senior Officials' and Ministerial Meetings, “Regional Migration Governance and Sustainable Development: Priorities for the Southern Africa Region”
  • September 11 - 13, 2018, Pretoria, South Africa, Senior Officials 'Meeting “Enhancing Migration Governance in the Southern Africa Region: Harnessing the Youth Dividend for Sustainable Development and Regional Integration” June 27-28, 2018, South Africa, Senior Officials' Meeting
  • September 2-4, 2017, Ezulwini, Eswatini, Ministerial Meeting "Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labor Migration".
  • August 16-18, 2016, Gaborone, Botswana, Technical Meeting: Addressing Mixed Migration in Southern Africa: Linking Protection, Immigration, Border Management and Labor Migration ".
  • July 7-9, 2015, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Ministerial Meeting under the theme, “Addressing Mixed and Irregular Migration in the SADC region: Protection of the Unaccompanied Migrant Child”. FInal Declaration ( EN | FR | PR ).
  • June 30- July 2, 2014 - Lilongwe, Malawi, Senior Officials' Meeting under the theme, “Taking Stock of Efforts to Address Mixed and Irregular Migration” .
  • July 10-11, 2013 - Maputo, Mozambique, Ministerial meeting under the theme “Enhancing Labor Migration and in the SADC Region”.
  • August 27-29, 2012 - Balaclava, Mauritius, Technical Meeting to bring together Southern African Development Community (SADC) Permanent Secretaries responsible for issues of migration and their counterparts responsible for labor mobility. 
  • November 15-17, 2010 - Windhoek, Namibia, MIDSA Ministerial Conference on Migration through Regional Cooperation,
Documents

MIDSA Workshop Reports:

MIDSA Workshop Report and Recommendations:

Contact information

Mr Wonesai Sithole 
Regional Policy and Liaison Officer
International Organization for Migration Mission in South Africa
E-mail: WSithole@iom.int
https://southafrica.iom.int/

Website
Https://ropretoria.iom.int/regional-cooperation