S. African launches Green Paper on International Migration

South Africa on Friday launched the Green Paper on International Migration which sets forth some core principles for better management of international migration.

The Paper defines South Africa's national interests in accordance with constitutional principles, socioeconomic development objectives and national security, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said at the launch ceremony in Freedom Park, Pretoria.

The Paper balances the primary imperatives of economic development, national security, international and constitutional obligations, according to Gigaba.

South Africa, he said, has a sovereign right to manage international migration in its national interests.

"We must manage international migration in a way which promotes human rights, advances the National Development Plan, takes into consideration our circumstances and resource constraints, and ensures all persons residing in South Afric, citizens and foreign nationals alike are and feel safe," the minister said.

South Africa's international migration policy must be oriented towards Africa and must speak to the nation's foreign policy, Gigaba said.

"Our foreign policy throughout the democratic period, has recognized South Africa as an integral part of the African continent, and our national interest as being inextricably linked to Africa's stability, unity and prosperity," he said.

Such policy must equip South Africa to work with regional partners, to progressively liberalize movement, in line with the aspirations of the people of our continent, for Africans to be able to move freely in Africa, Gigaba said.

"The movement of people is a core issue of regional integration in Africa and other regions globally," the minister said.

"Migration is of course a moral issue, concerning as it does, how we treat our guests in the form of visitors as well as regular and irregular immigrants, as well as vulnerable asylum seekers and forced migrants," he said.

Politically, a country's ability to determine who may enter and exit its territory, and on what terms, is a core aspect of national sovereignty which all of the 200 or so countries in the international state system retain, Gigaba said.

He said individuals visiting, transiting and residing in the territory of a country are entitled to the protection of as well as humane treatment by the host country.

By virtue of their presence in a territory, they may also make various claims on the host state, and thus destination countries are entitled to know who a prospective visitor is, and what their needs, circumstances and intentions are before they enter a country's territory, according to Gigaba.

People can also become citizens of other countries through naturalization, he said.

"So when governments manage migration, they do so in the awareness that they are not merely considering entry of a temporary resident, but also a potential future citizen," Gigaba explained.

The movement of people is a core issue of regional integration, in Africa and other regions globally, Gigaba said.

In a globalized world of dynamic, interconnected economies, the ability to manage the flow of people is critical to economic competitiveness, he said.

"Increasingly, the ability of a country to attract and facilitate the easy entry of tourists, business people, conference attendees, skilled workers and investors is a key component of economic competitiveness.

"However, international migration is not just about the affluent strata of the economy.

"It is a development issue," Gigaba noted.

African migrants sent approximately 35 billion US dollars home in 2015, an amount almost equalling the total amount of development aid Sub-Saharan Africa received from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries the previous year (36 billion dollars in 2014), and only 25 percent less than Africa received from all countries (47 billion dollars in 2014), Gigaba cited figures as saying.

According to the World Bank, there are 250 million international migrants in the world, three percent of the world's population, more than ever before.

International migration is a natural, largely positive phenomenon which if well managed can, does and will make a crucial contribution to growing the African economy and transforming Africa as envisioned in Agenda 2063, a development blueprint set by the African Union, Gigaba said. Endit