IOM and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are
jointly organizing a capacity building workshop on "common
approaches to irregular migration in West Africa."

The two-day meeting, which opens on 6 February in Dakar, brings
together high-ranking officials from the Ministries of Justice and
Interior of the 15 ECOWAS Member States alongside representatives
from African regional economic and political bodies.

The main objective of the workshop is to strengthen national and
regional capacities in migration management based on the
International Agenda for Migration Management (IAMM),
a reference document which provides a non-binding policy
framework outlining best practices for the management of
international migration.

Complementing the IAMM as part of a training package,
IOM's Essentials of Migration Management (EMM) will also be
featured at the workshop.

Issues relating to the free movement of persons, right of
residence and establishment within the ECOWAS grouping, options for
legal migration programmes and regional counter-trafficking
approaches will also be discussed

The workshop, which is financed by the Swiss government
will further the Migration Dialogue for West Africa (MIDWA)
process, initiated by ECOWAS and IOM in 2002.

For more information, please contact:

IOM Dakar

Tel: + 221 869 62 00

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