Critical migration policy narratives from West Africa
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Author | Joseph Kofi Teye |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13012 |
International Migration. 2022;60:73–84.
|
73
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
While human mobility has always been an integral part of livelihoods in West Africa (Adepoju, 2005), the sub-
region has become the focus of policy discussions on migration governance in recent years (Awumbila et al.,
2014). The increased intere st of the international communit y in migration issues in West Afric a is partly due to
the high level of labo ur migration and forced displac ement being witnessed in the su b- region (Teye et al., 2019;
Received: 25 Feb ruary 2021
|
Revised: 6 Februa ry 2022
|
Accepted: 4 April 2 022
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .13012
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
Critical migration policy narratives from
West Africa
Joseph Kofi Teye
© 2022 The Auth ors. Internation al Migration © 2022 IO M
Centre for Migr ation Studies, Un iversity of
Ghana, Legon- Accra, Ghana
Correspondence
Joseph Kofi Teye, Cent re for Migration
Studies, Uni versity of Ghana, P.O. Box LG
59, Legon- Accra, Ghana.
Emails: jteye@ug.edu.ghor teyejoseph@
yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
Although there are contesting perspectives on migration,
there is little understanding of how narratives of various
policy actors shape migration governance in West Africa.
This paper relies on a desk- review and qualitative data to
examine the narratives that shape migration policy formu-
lation and outcomes in West Africa. The findings indicate
that while various stakeholders have been championing
divergent narratives on migration, programmes that have
been adopted by West African countries to manage migra-
tion have largely been based on the narratives of political
elite and international development partners, although
there were situations where these narratives were not sup-
ported by any strong evidence. While early views on the
impacts of international migration portrayed it as a threat
to socio- economic development, more recent narratives
have recognized the potential of migration to contribute
to socio- economic transformation. Consequently, various
West African countries are developing policies to harness
the benefits of immigration, emigration and return migra-
tion for socio- economic development.
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