‘If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together’ Masai proverb
In October this year, the IDC held a regional workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in collaboration with IDC members Asylum Access Tanzania on ‘Immigration detention in transit and destination countries in the East and Southern Africa migration corridor’. 45 participants from eight countries across the migration corridor attended the workshop, including NGO and UN agencies, along with representatives of the Government of Tanzania.
The event provided an opportunity for diverse actors from across the region to come together and explore regional legislation, policy and practice of immigration detention, as well as the impact of detention on vulnerable people. In three days, participants focused attention on further mapping regional immigration detention practices, challenges and opportunities for change, explored existing and possible alternatives to detention, and shared valuable skills and knowledge in areas such as psychosocial and legal responses to people affected by immigration detention.
A highlight of the event was the development of basic national action pans for each country attending. These will be reviewed and built upon by participants with further stakeholders in their home countries. The IDC is excitied about relationships built with and between diverse actors during the workshop, the engaging dialougue, and looks forward to working at both a national and regional level in Africa in 2013.
Thank you to all presenters, participants, to the Government of Tanzania for your participation, and in particular to Asylum Access Tanzania for co-hosting this event. Please contact Lucy Bowring with any questions or comments at [email protected]
