OECD Development Centre Working Papers

ISSN :
1815-1949 (online)
DOI :
10.1787/18151949
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The OECD Development Centre links OECD members with developing and emerging economies and fosters debate and discussion to seek creative policy solutions to emerging global issues and development challenges. This series of working papers is intended to disseminate the OECD Development Centre’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned. These papers are generally available in the original English or French, with a summary in the other language.
 

South-South Migration in West Africa

Addressing the Challenge of Immigrant Integration You or your institution have access to this content

Authors:
Jason Gagnon1, David Khoudour-Castéras1
Author Affiliations
  • 1: OECD, France

Publication Date
31 May 2012
Bibliographic information
No.:
312
Pages
53
DOI
10.1787/5k98p4wcgjmx-en

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Although South-South migrants face much of the same discrimination and integration challenges as their South-North counterparts, South-South flows need to be analysed from a different standpoint. An investigation of immigrant experience in West Africa, with particular focus on Ghana, shows that despite the prevalence of intra-regional migration, most governments neglect integration issues, generating costs not only for immigrants and their families, but also for host communities. Against this background, the standard models of integration used in the North – assimilation and multiculturalism – are not necessarily applicable. On the one hand, borders are generally more porous and immigration controls more lax, so that assimilation models are not well adapted as many migrants do not stay long enough to adopt local customs. On the other, national linguistic, cultural and ethnic diversity tends to be higher in West Africa, so basing immigration integration on multicultural premise may have little impact. Integration policies in the South should take into account these differences and focus on the protection of migrant rights, while also fighting discrimination and fostering the incorporation of immigrants into society.
Keywords:
West Africa, South-South migration, immigrant integration
JEL Classification:
  • F22: International Economics / International Factor Movements and International Business / International Migration
  • J15: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Economics of Minorities, Races, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • O15: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
  • O55: Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth / Economywide Country Studies / Africa