Nairobi – The Government of Kenya, through the National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM), convened a national validation-consultation meeting on its draft Migration Policy on Tuesday (17/07). The meeting brought together 45 delegates from the central government, the counties, legislature, academic and research institutions, as well as international agencies.

Dan Opon, Chairman of the NCM Secretariat, acknowledged the importance of the inputs from a broad range of stakeholders in making the draft migration policy align with international standards and realities of citizens, migrants, and refugees.

The draft policy provides a roadmap to address impacts and challenges of migration and is informed by relevant international, regional and national frameworks including the Kenya Vision 2030, the Big 4 agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), Migration Governance Framework, the African Union Migration Framework and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional migration policy framework aimed at promoting safe, orderly and humane migration.

Thematic discussions on forced migration; migration and development; facilitation of international mobility; border management; and crosscutting issues such migration and education; health; human rights; environment; gender; and addressing vulnerabilities in migration were also revisited in plenary sessions among other topics. The delegates dissected the objectives and strategies by section. After this validation session, the NCM will be submitting the refined document for adoption by the Government of Kenya.

Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Kenya Country Representative, noted the recognition of refugees and asylum seekers’ needs as well as the role of host communities, and the respect for non-refoulement in the draft comprehensive policy. He also commended Kenya’s historical role in hosting large numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries.

Michael Pillinger, IOM Kenya Country Office Chief of Mission, recognized the months of hard work done by NCM members to reflect on the benefits and risks of migration, international and internal processes as well as the victims of irregular migration processes.

Pillinger emphasized the importance of social cohesion and broader cooperation of local and regional stakeholders towards durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities. IOM Kenya and IGAD have supported the consultative processes since 2017. The validation workshop also provided an opportunity for validating the Kenya Migration Profile (2015).

For more information please contact Michael Pillinger at IOM Kenya Country Office, Tel: +254 20 4221 161, Email: mpillinger@iom.int