Global civil society has responded with both relief and disappointment to UN Member States’ consensus approval of the formal outcome of the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) on 17–20 May that assessed implementation of the Global Compact for Migration.
The IMRF, held every four years, is the primary intergovernmental global platform to review how the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration* (GCM), including as it relates to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, is being put into action, and to discuss gaps and challenges for future implementation.
The Progress Document is the formal outcome of the IMRF. Though not legally binding for UN Member States, its analysis of progress and shortcomings of GCM implementation over the past four years and its recommended actions serve as the basis for migration policy and advocacy from the global to local levels up until the next IMRF.
Civil society representative Colin Rajah called the adoption by consensus of the Progress Declaration “a bittersweet moment,” which evoked conflicting emotions following governments’ affirmation of the GCM’s underlying principles going forward alongside weakened commitment to the landmark agreement’s objectives.
“On the one hand, we are relieved about the consensus by Member States for the Progress Declaration. On the other, it was always a disappointing Progress Declaration to us […] regressing in many ways from the aspirations of the GCM,” he said.
Mr Rajah noted that the Declaration had some “pockets of welcome language,” for example the inclusion of racism, wage theft, and regularization. At the same time, he said it “almost tiptoe[d] around core migration issues.” He noted that civil society had repeatedly raised attention of notable gaps in the Progress Declaration including steps backwards with regard to detention of migrant children, the agency of migrant women, and the protection for migrant workers under international labor standards.
All in all, the hopes of four years ago, immediately following adoption of the GCM, had not been realized with the IMRF outcome document, which lacked “ambition and vision,” according to Mr Rajah.
Still, the coordinator of the Civil Society Action Committee said the adoption of the Progress Declaration by consensus sent an important signal of a commitment to furthering multilateral cooperation around migration governance. He noted the concern of civil society going into the IMRF that the current toxic global political climate and stances by some States might prevent any forward progress from being made.
“Having this consensus at least shows [that governments] remain committed to the ideals of the GCM.” Now, the task was to apply it better on the ground, and for the lives of migrants themselves, he said.
The conclusion of the first IMRF with its Progress Declaration called civil society to a stock-taking of the current status of global migration governance, Mr Rajah said, acknowledging that there might be an uphill battle in the next four years to return to the hopeful and ambitious point of departure when the GCM negotiations concluded. “We must see how we as civil society can reach higher and push States along.”
*The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is an international agreement adopted by 152 States in December 2018. As the first-ever global framework for migration governance, it aims to increase international collaboration on all aspects related to migration, including human rights, humanitarian needs, and development.
