Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration - Civil Society advocacy
In the face of ever- increasing numbers of people moving across international borders, the UN General Assembly convened a United Nations (UN) High-Level Summit on 19th of September 2016, to discuss ways to address these large movements, both their causes and effects on refugees, migrants and society as a whole.
The outcome was the New York Declaration, which expressed the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale. It also included a commitment by member states to develop over the next two years two Global Compacts: one for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the other for Refugees.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is the result of the two-year, state-led, multi-stakeholder process, with the governments of Switzerland and Mexico as its co-facilitators. The intergovernmental negotiations to develop the final text finished in July 2018, and states prepare to adopt it in the Intergovernmental Conference on the 10 – 11th of December.
As of 2016, civil society self-organised including – but not only - through the Civil Society Action Committee with the aim to drive global communications, organizing and collective advocacy as an extra level of civil society advocacy towards Summit outcomes and implementation thereof. For information on civil society action in 2016, please click here. The Action Committee is co-convened by International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and the NGO Committee for Migration.
This Action Committee continued its activities through 2017 and 2018, where it has taken on up the role to bridge civil society follow-up on the range of commitments in the New York Declaration through the two-year period to develop a Global Compact for Refugees and a Global Compact on Migration.
For more information on the Terms of Reference, members and activities of the Action Committee, please click here.
Continued civil society engagement through the process
The process to develop the Global Compact for Migration went through several phases, each one characterized by specific civil society engagement:
I. Consultation phase
Thematic consultations
6 thematic consultations have been organized at UN-level, each covering issues seen as key to include in the Global Compact for Migration. Civil society has contributed extensively to these consultations, offering feedback on the thematic papers, offering interventions and participating as panellists at these consultations.
Regional civil society Consultations (RCSCs)
Civil society organised a series of 7 regional civil society consultations (RCSCs) in the second half of 2017, which united civil society stakeholders in the respective regions. The consultations reached out to a wide range of organisations at regional, local and grassroots level, discussing particular migration issues and good practices in their region, but also strategizing as civil society to provide joint inputs for the GCM consultation process. ICMC/MADE was the co-organiser of the European consultation, which took place on 2-3 October 2017, along with PICUM – Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. See the programme of this consultation here.
Outcomes and reports from the regional consultations
See the reports for each of these RCSC’s below, along with the information about the focal point for each consultation.
Region | Contact | Documents |
Asia |
Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) (contact mfa@mfasia.org |
Report | Summary |
Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) |
Cross-Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) (contact rhamati@insanlb.org) |
Report | Summary |
Africa |
Pan-African Network in Defense of Migrants Rights (PANiDMR) and MADE-Afrique (contact mamadou_goita@yahoo.fr) |
English | French |
North America |
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR) (contact ctactaquin@nnirr.org) |
Report | Summary |
Europe |
Migration and Development Civil Society Network (MADE) and Platform for the International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) (contact michele.levoy@picum.org) |
Report |
Latin America & the Carrabean |
(contact berevrnice@gmail.com) |
Report in English (Summary) | Spanish |
Pacific TBC |
The Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (PIANGO) (contact: dtp@unsw.edu.au) |
Multi-stakeholder Hearings and the Steering Committee
The modalities for the intergovernmental negotiations of the GCM requested the convening of five informal Interactive Multi-Stakeholder Hearings, with representatives of non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, including migrants and diaspora themselves, academic institutions, parliaments and the private sector.
Other relevant events
Civil society has organised various events, consultations and conferences in order to prepare collective advocacy messages for the process to develop the GCM. Among others, of note are the GFMD Civil Society Days 2017 and the Global Conference on Children on the Move, both of which prepared recommendations for the Global Compact(s).
II. Stocktaking phase
An intergovernmental stocktaking meeting in Mexico on 4-5 December 2018 marked the transition from the “consultation phase” to the “negotiations phase”. Civil society self-organised – with ICMC/MADE as its conference coordinator – in its own stocktaking meeting prior to the government meeting, drawing on the outcomes of the RCSCs, GFMD Civil Society Days 2017, Global Conference on Children on the Move and other civil society gatherings. The aim of this civil society stocktaking was to distil key issues and themes– either of global relevance or regional specificity – and advocate strongly and collectively for their inclusion in the zero-draft of the GCM under discussion at the official stocktaking in the following days. For more information, click here.
III. Negotiations phase
In February 2018 the intergovernmental negotiations started in New York, with one week of negotiations planned every month. Ahead of each round, the co-facilitators launched a new draft of the Global Compact text up for discussion that next round. For an overview of the course of the negotiations, please click here. Civil society participated all negotiations. Both individually and collectively - including through the work of the Action Committee – organisations drafted numerous joint statements, organised in two civil society in person meetings in June and July and set up specific civil society tables with governments on a number of issues such as e.g. climate, detention, labour migration, and mixed migration both in New York and Geneva.
For an overview of civil society collective and sign-on statements, and reports of meetings, click here.
IV. Adoption of the Global Compact for Migration
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was formally adopted in Marrakesh during on 10 December 2018. Civil Society delivered a collective statement to the UN Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
The AC after Marrakesh: Implementing the Global Compact and developing a new model of civil society engagement.
At the end of 2018, The Action Committee started a broad reflection on its role, priorities and structure going forward. The Action Committee’s mandate was extended for 2019 by strong request from its members. During this year, the AC will focus on the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, by offering a space for collective civil society strategy around it. It will also keep its ‘bridging’ role with civil society groups working on the Global Compact for Refugees and the Internally Displaced People Work Programme 2020 (IDP WP 2020).
At the same time, the Action Committee will look towards the future, and serve as an interim body to develop a new model for future civil society engagement. To prepare for this complex exercise, the AC co-conveners launched a consultation process to look into civil society organising in the new era of international migration governance as of 2019.
Broader consultations with civil society partners and other stakeholders will take place in the coming months. More information about the results of these processes will be published soon.
More information?
Click here for publications, statements and other important advocacy tools
Important websites:
Useful information and resources:
Highlights of collective advocacy tools: