16 Dec 2024

As a land linked country, Botswana is strategically placed both as a haven and a gateway for migrants, says President Advocate Duma Boko. 

Receiving the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Ms Amy Pope, who paid him a courtesy call at his office on Friday, President Boko said for the country to fully carry out such functions, certain investments must be done to address some of the challenges that the country was faced with such as poverty and marginalisation that were impacting negatively on the local people. 

Adv. Boko said the government was to engage on addressing issues of unemployment and poverty, which were a violation of fundamental human rights. 

First, President Boko said, the country must acknowledge that it was in such crisis, appreciate the extent and enormity of the problem and come up with possible interventions.

Of primary importance, the President said his government must focus on revitalising the economy, create employment opportunities and ultimately diffuse the tension that usually arise when people migrate into the country.

He said a popular debate was that people who migrated into the country compete with the locals for the limited livelihood opportunities. 

However, he said migrants must be viewed as a positive as they bring with them expertise and skills that were an addition to growing the economy. 

“We must fully be a haven. Those displaced by violence and other challenges must find support and compassion here. There is a lot that we must do and we are committed to doing it,” said President Boko. 

With the necessary development in place to cater for migration, President Boko said migrants from countries such as Zimbabwe would cease to be viewed as a problem and issue of tension.

He  said the current circumstances created an environment where any migrant was looked at with hostility. The President said challenges associated with migration must be resolved in a humane way. He said the country was also faced with internal displacement of its people. 

He said some of the local people were forced to migrate from their place of origin and move to other locations, looking for better opportunities or fleeing catastrophes such as flooding. 

He said locations such as Mahalapye, were some of those that were prone to flooding. “We need to be astute, be ready and have the resources to attend to such issues,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Ms Pope said the visit was to introduce the IOM and engage on ways that would support President Boko’s priorities. 

She said IOM had been working with Botswana since 2010. She said even though their mission was small, their relationship with the country remained strong. Ms Pope said her goal was to drive a greater partnership between IOM and government.

 Ms Pope said IOM was focused on three key objectives, which were to save lives and protect people on the move. She said it was important that her office met basic needs of migrants. 

However, Ms Pope said the office must address critical challenges that were associated with migration. “We need to focus on how we build up solutions to displacement, mostly when it comes to the problems associated with climate,” she noted. 

She said many communities lived in places that were highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change, adding that more people were being displaced by climate than conflict.

As an international community, Ms Pope said it was critical that IOM collected data that would provide enough evidence to target communities that if impacted by challenges of climate, their property and livelihoods would be lost. 

Therefore, Ms Pope said with such data, the IOM would begin to build interventions to build resilience and ensure that people were not displaced. Ms Pope said IOM believes in facilitating regular pathways for migration. 

“We know migration is human and it is necessary. When migration is as a result of chaos, it creates conflict within communities. But where we can enable people to move safely in search of a job opportunity with the skills they need to get a job, we can use migration as a way to enhance development,” she said. Ends