High-level Debate on International Migration and Development
Monami Maulik, International Coordinator, Global Coalition on Migration
February 27, 2019
The Global Coalition on Migration represents a multi-sectorial civil society alliance of migrant-led and regional networks, trade unions, policy and faith organizations. We have heard today from several of our regional partners from Asia, Central America and the Middle East- North Africa on the centrality of nationally and regionally driven realization of migration governance.
Civil society fully supports the multiple interventions made today which call for fulfilling the SDGs in a holistic manner where migration is understood as cross-cutting across the spectrum of Goals and Targets. The High Level Political Forum and Voluntary National Reviews offer Member States, civil society and the whole-of-society a much-needed opportunity to shift the paradigm on migration and human mobility. This is a shift of the narrative away from the current discourse fueled by populist pressures and the lack of confidence in State’s management of migration, as mentioned by DG Vitorino this morning. This is a narrative that translates into policies that focus on migration management largely or solely in a move towards criminalization, the use of Overseas Development Aid in a context largely framed on the prevention of migration, and addressing drivers of migration while not offering the creation of new legal pathways. The 2030 Agenda and linkage to the Global Compact offers a paradigm shift that moves us towards understanding that sustainable development goals for all-of-society can only be met if we have full protection of migrant and labor rights in its entirety, and if civil society plays a significant role in all stages of policy making and governance.
This is where the where the Compact, the HLPF and UN Network intersect.
To that end, here are some practical proposals to realize that national and regional level engagement are critical to successful implementation of the Compact and SDG agenda overall. The UN Migration Network, International and Regional Migration Review Fora, and migration related indicators towards the HLPF should be consistently informed by the realities on the ground. This would include a larger role and support for national and regional reviews on migration to feed into the HLPF, UN Network, engagement of national and regional civil society organizations and the role of UN Country Teams.
- At the national level, a replication of the IOM and UN core croup coordination should be developed and be involved in national review, which feeds in to the International and Regional Migration Review For and the HLPF.
- UN Country Teams or specific Working Groups at national / regional level should set up dedicated mechanisms for stakeholder engagement.
- Civil society engagement at national and regional level should be reflected at the global level
- Coherence of agendas and work plans are developed between national, regional and global level with respect of the specificities of the contexts
- There are supported proposals to replicate regional annual meetings with stakeholders for information sharing, strategy and review of implementation of the 23 objectives and UN Network at regional levels
- In general, and in particular where strong UN presence is absent, stakeholders should be able to activate the UN Network working groups on concrete issues at national level that deserve specific or urgent attention