Activities

On 4-5 October 2023, the Khartoum Process Flagship Thematic Meeting on “Exploring the Potential of Mobility in the Context of Climate Change” took place in Berlin, Germany, co-chaired by Germany and the African Union Commission. Building on the priority outlined during the Chairmanship of South Sudan on the nexus between human mobility and climate change, Germany, the current Chair of the Khartoum Process, has picked up the thread with various events on the topic that culminated into the Khartoum Process flagship thematic meeting on 4-5 October 2023, in Berlin, Germany.

The meeting brought together approx. 100 participants from the Khartoum Process and Rabat Process member States, as well as experts from international organisations and civil society organisations to discuss the opportunities and challenges stemming from the mobility and climate change nexus, whilst paying particular attention to the situation of women and children. 

An extraordinary Steering Committee (SC) Meeting took place on 7 September 2023 in Vienna, Austria to provide an update on the state of play of the Process but also, to discuss further the modalities of the Steering Committee composition and its enlargement. The Committee reiterated their decision to enlarge the Steering Committee from 10 to 12 members, with a sixth member joining from each continent on a permanent basis. To operationalise this decision, the Khartoum Process Secretariat will launch a call for interest. Furthermore, it was agreed that the Rules odd Procedure will be update to include an additional clause that will allow Steering Committee members to select a Chair from outside the SC. The draft text along with the applications for candidature will be proposed and discussed during the 16^th Steering Committee Meeting in Cairo. This Meeting was followed by a Roundtable on the Implications of the Crisis in Sudan on Migration Flows in the Region, which provided a platform for Khartoum Process member states and organisations to share their perspectives on the situation in Sudan with a particular focus on its impact on migration realities in the region. The discussion contributed to a better understanding of the complex mixed migration flows.

Over 60 representatives from the Khartoum Process participating States, international and regional organisations as well as academia and civil society representatives met in Nairobi, Kenya on 4 – 5 July 2023. Hosted by Kenya and co-hosted by Germany, the thematic meeting of the Khartoum Process entitled Building Resilience and Ensuring the Protection of and Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The two-day discussions provided participants with a deeper understanding of internal displacement dynamics and intersecting issues, particularly within East Africa and the Horn of Africa region. Participants could explore durable solutions to internal displacement and discuss possible ways forward in line with the UN Action Agenda on internal displacement.

On 3 - 4 May 2023, Uganda hosted the Khartoum Process Thematic Workshop on Data on Human Mobility in the context of Climate Change, attracting over 50 representatives from diverse backgrounds, including academia, government, NGOs, and international organisations. The workshop provided a unique opportunity for attendees to exchange knowledge and engage in discussions about the latest research and trends in climate displacement and migration data.

The workshop's agenda was filled with exciting and informative sessions. Existing actors in the climate displacement and mobility data research world presented their latest findings and shared their experiences. The presentations covered a range of topics, including the latest data on climate change-induced migration, the challenges of collecting and analysing climate migration data, and best practices for using data to inform policy decisions.

On 16 March 2023, Khartoum Process partners met for the 9^th Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), which was preceded by a Steering Committee (SC) Meeting on the afternoon of 15 March and a reception dinner organised by the host of the two events, the German Federal Foreign Office, at the Berlin Red City Hall. The reception featured welcoming remarks by Ms Sibylle Katharina Sorg, Director General for European Affairs, German Federal Foreign Office, Ms Ana-Maria Trǎsnea, State Secretary for International Relations of the Federal State of Berlin, and Honourable Mary Ayen Majok, Deputy Speaker of the Council of States, as representative of the outgoing Chair of the Process, South Sudan.

The Senior Officials’ Meeting featured the Chairmanship handover from South Sudan to Germany, who presented their priorities for the year ahead. Among other priority areas, the German chairmanship will focus on human mobility in the context of climate change and the protection of internally displaced people. As a cross-cutting theme and in line with Germany’s Feminist Foreign Policy Guidelines, gender-specific issues will receive special attention.

The Thematic Workshop on Innovative Law Enforcement Tools to Tackle Irregular Migration took place on 22 – 24 November 2022 in Cairo, hosted by Egypt and co-hosted by France. The workshop brought together over 60 participants and experts from 19 countries and 12 different organisations and institutions, among which are EUROPOL, EUROJUST, ICMPD, INTERPOL, UNHCR, Regional Operational Centre in Khartoum (ROCK), and UNODC.

The aim of the workshop was to provide law enforcement professionals in Khartoum Process countries with practical, hands-on innovative tools to address irregular migration – trafficking in human beings (THB) and smuggling of migrants (SoM) in particular – with a focus on the financial aspects, document security, and the use of technology and digital tools, with cooperation and partnership as an overarching theme. 

On 5 - 7 October 2022, Ethiopia, with Germany as co-host, welcomed delegates from Khartoum Process (KP) and Rabat Process (RP) partner countries and organisations to Addis Ababa for a Thematic Meeting (TM) on Climate Change and Migration: Addressing Impacts & Adaptation Strategies for Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change. This meeting, addressing climate mobility for the first time in the framework of both dialogues, aimed at establishing an understanding of the nuanced nature of the climate change - human mobility nexus, with a focus on the regions involved; establishing a conceptual framework for mainstreaming climate mobility into migration governance and other connected areas such as urban planning, while sharing experiences on strategies and initiatives at the local, national, and regional levels on human mobility in the context of climate change. Furthermore, the meeting intended to explore the role of migration dialogues such as the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process in deepening intergovernmental cooperation and facilitating collaborative responses to climate-induced mobility. This should also include identifying areas for further exploration and recommendations for further implementation and cooperation among and within the dialogues.

An extraordinary Steering Committee Meeting took place on 10 October 2022 in Vienna, Austria, to further discuss the Steering Committee composition and enlargement due to Sudan’s continued inability and current suspension from the African Union. To fill temporarily the vacant seat in the Steering Committee and restore the geographical balance, a temporary replacement for Sudan will be sought from among the African Khartoum Process members through a call for interest. 

On the further expansion of the Steering Committee membership, it was agreed that 1 member/continent should be added as an acceptable way forward. Further discussions on the modalities however need to be further elaborated by the voluntary working group (composed by Egypt and The Netherlands) until the next Steering Committee Meeting. Furthermore, there was a general consensus on the possibility of adding an emergency clause to the existing Rules of Procedure that would allow Steering Committee Members to also propose and select a Chair for the Process from outside the Steering Committee in case of an emergency situation.