Delegates from thirteen countries spanning from the East and Horn
of Africa, the Great Lakes region and southern Africa agreed on 8
September 2010 to work more closely in responding to the challenges
of mixed migratory flows in the region.

This commitment was voiced during the "Regional Conference on
Refugee Protection and International Migration" that was hosted in
Dar es Salaam from September 6-7 by the Government of Tanzania, and
supported by the IOM and UNHCR.

The conference was convened in light of the growing number of
refugees and irregular migrants moving southwards from the Horn of
Africa and Great Lakes Region to South Africa and the need to
ensure a coordinated and effective response by governments and
civil society.

Delegates to the conference discussed various proposals on how
to better address mixed migratory flows in a protection-sensitive
manner.  Issues discussed included strengthening national
institutions responsible for refugee and immigration affairs;
improving the collection and analysis of migration data; and
improving the identification of persons in need of protection
and/or assistance, such as refugees, victims of trafficking and
unaccompanied minors.

Lawrence Masha, Tanzanian Minister of Home Affairs, opened the
conference, alongside UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for
Protection, Ms. Erika Feller and IOM's Director of the Department
of Migration Management, Ms. Irena Vojackova-Sollorano.

In his opening remarks, the Minister of Home Affairs thanked
UNHCR and IOM for their support in convening the conference and
reiterated the need for greater cooperation among all stakeholders
in responding to the challenges of mixed migration flows.

"Inter-state cooperation is very important in order to avoid
situations in which people are pushed backwards and forwards
between two or more countries," Mr. Masha noted. "Migrants can be a
catalyst of economic development; both as a source of labour and as
a source of remittances. And although states have the sovereign
right to determine who to admit and who to expel from their
territories, such rights should be exercised in conformity with
international human rights and refugee law. People with valid
claims to refugee status should be given the opportunity to seek
asylum and benefit from protection coming with that status."

UNHCR and IOM emphasized that people in the region are moving
for a variety of reasons, including to improve their economic
situation, to flee persecution or armed conflict, or to escape
extreme poverty.

"It is vital to rightly identify and protect refugees within
these large southbound people movements," Ms. Feller said. "Somalis
for example make up an especially large group of the people fleeing
southwards. We have to understand that all Somalis from Central and
South Somalia are refugees with a right to protection."

IOM's Irena Vojackova-Sollorano called for the implementation of
hands-on measures to solve pending regional migration
issues. "We need concrete mechanisms in order to cope with the
regional migratory flows. This requires implementation of sound
policies that focus on international protection, concise data
gathering, and learning from countries' experiences."

It was agreed at the close of the Conference that a Plan of
Action would be developed to take forward the key recommendations
emerging from the conference. Delegates agreed on the need to
ensure that concrete steps were taken at the national and regional
levels as a follow-up to the conference.

The conference was brought to a close by Bernard Membe,
Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation.

For additional information please contact:

Puseletso Mompei

IOM South Africa

Tel: +27 71 68 999 66

E-mail: "mailto:pmompei@iom.int">pmompei@iom.int

or

Geoffrey Carlize

UNHCR Tanzania

Tel: +255 782 730 121

E-mail: "mailto:carliez@unhcr.org">carliez@unhcr.org

Roselyn Paul

E-mail: "mailto:paulr@unhcr.org">paulr@unhcr.org