Gearing up for the 2nd UNECE Regional Migration Review Forum (RMRF)
The second Regional Migration Review Forum (RMRF) for the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region, took place on 11 March 2024 in Geneva. The region includes over 50 countries, located in Europe, North America, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Western Asia (see UNECE Member States at the end of the post).
Prior to the RMRF, the United Nations Network on Migration (UNNM) organised an online pre-consultation on 14 November 2023, to initiate preliminary discussions on the format and thematic discussion of the Review. This preparation was followed by two Stakeholder Consultations on 29 January 2024 and 28 February 2024.
During the consultations, civil society placed emphasis on key migration trends that have adverse impacts on migrants’ lives and called for more meaningful participation of civil society and trade unions in the RMRFs, as well as increased spaces for interaction with Member States. Based on the priorities that emerged, stakeholders decided to focus their advocacy efforts on 3 key areas pertinent to the regional migration landscape:
- The inclusion of civil society, migrant-led organisations and migrants in GCM implementation and review processes and activities;
- The need for rights-based pathways for more fair and humane immigration of all migrants;
- and Support for positive migration narratives and anti-criminalisation discourse and policies across the media, political leadership, and the general public.
A Summary Report of the Stakeholder Consultation was compiled by Civil Society Action Committee (AC) member and Stakeholder Rapporteur, Irem Arf, of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The Report was shared on 5 March 2024, prior to the Regional Review, to inform the Multi-Stakeholder Hearing and Inter-Governmental Conference on 11 March 2024 in Geneva.
Watch the recordings of the Stakeholder Consultations and note the sessions’ focuses below:
- Thematic Sessions 1 and 2 on Objectives 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 18, 21
- Thematic Sessions 3 and 4 on Objectives 1, 3, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23
The Regional Review: 11 March 2024
The second UNECE Regional Review was chaired by the Republic of Moldova and the Government of Spain, whose summary of the event will inform the 2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF).
The structure of the RMRF consisted of a 75-minute Multi-Stakeholder Hearing (MSH), held on the morning of the Review (see the Annotated Agenda), followed by an Intergovernmental Conference (see the Annotated Agenda) where Member States, local authorities, civil society representatives, trade unions, the private sector, and other stakeholders shared their best practices, areas of progress or lack of thereof on the implementation of the GCM.
Multi-Stakeholder Hearing (MSH)
The MSH was moderated by Civil Society Action Committee Policy Officer, Elana Wong. The following AC members served as panellists during the Hearing:
- Alberto Cerezo, Red Acoge
- Carolina Gottardo, International Detention Coalition (IDC)
- Maria Kamenias, Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
- Marie Lobjoy, Secours Catholique-Caritas France (SCCF)
- Michele LeVoy, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
These members highlighted concerning developments in migration regionally, but also emphasised best practices and solutions to pressing issues around the areas of Inclusion, Rights-based Pathways, and Narratives and Criminalisation. Below are a few of the critical messages share in AC members’ interventions:
– On stakeholder inclusion in GCM implementation, civil society emphasised the necessity of a meaningful participatory approach that is driven and informed by grassroots organisations, civil society organisations, and migrants, who have greater experience on the ground and have indispensable insights for the improvement of Member States’ implementation efforts. This will require conscious efforts to make international processes and spaces more transparent and inclusive and combat tokenistic engagement with non-State stakeholders following the principle of ‘Nothing about us without us’. Migrants must be at the centre of implementation processes because meaningful progress in migration governance is fundamentally dependent on migrants’ participation.
– On rights-based pathways, civil society representatives decried the worsening conditions of migration within the region with little policy interventions from Member States. Herein, the fleeting mention of safe, regular and orderly migration pathways in the European Union’s (EU) Pact on Migration and Asylum demonstrates the lack of urgency in regularising migration for migrants of all origins and backgrounds. Fair and human-centred immigration policies that favour regularisation (regardless of migration status), are stakeholder inclusive, and gender responsive are therefore crucial. The 2022 Irish Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme has been cited as a good example of stakeholder involvement in the design and implementation of a successful migration policy and a testament to the importance of political will amongst UNECE Member States.
– On narratives and criminalisation, another area of concern was the dominant narrative prioritising the prevention of irregular migration in the EU Pact on Migration. In particular, this narrative focuses on border enforcement targeting human trafficking and smuggling, and consequently criminalises certain migration routes, criminalises the migrants who have travelled through those routes (children included), as well as any individuals and organisations who intervene to assist migrants in crisis situations during their migration journey. Nonetheless, there is evidence of successful models that do not criminalise and/or detain migrants. An example of this is the EU Alternatives to Detention Network that has run 7 pilot projects of case management models which have shown greater respect for migrants’ rights and well-being, decreased migration governance costs, and improved compliance and case resolution.
Intergovernmental Conference
The Intergovernmental Conference of the Regional Review was an opportunity for Member States to focus on the progress made in GCM implementation and assess if their regional and national efforts align with the Compact. This was also an occasion for stakeholders to share their concerns, insights, best-practices and recommendations with Member States. The 4 sessions focused on the following GCM objectives:
- Session 1: Objectives 2, 5, 6, 12 and 18
- Session 2: Objectives 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 21
- Session 3: Objectives 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 22
- Session 4: Objectives 1, 3, 7, 17 and 23
Multiple members and observers of the AC made opening and closing statements, and served as moderators throughout the day’s sessions:
- Irem Arf, International Trade Union Coalition (ITUC) – Opening Statement as the Stakeholder Rapporteur
- Paola Cammilli, Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) – Session 1 Moderator
- Stella-Opoku Owusu, African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) – Session 3 Moderator
- Michele LeVoy, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) – Session 4 Moderator
- Feblezi Huebi, Migrant Youth & Children Platform (MYCP) – Closing Statement as Youth Representative
During the Conference, AC members also made floor interventions highlighting the importance of supporting, listening to, and granting opportunities for migrants to share their experiences, which should inform the implementation of GCM objectives. Additionally, civil society representatives called for Member States to re-find the political will to work collaboratively with each other and with stakeholders to uphold their obligations to protect the human rights of migrants. Others also pointed to the need to further include diaspora as equal development partners in countries of origin and residence, not only on a voluntary basis, but also professionalising, institutionalising and scaling-up diaspora-led initiatives. For migrant workers, it is essential that Member States ensure their full labour protections, for instance, their right to organise and freedom of association. This makes social dialogue between local / national governments and migrant workers / representatives crucial. Finally, without the involvement of grassroots and civil society organisations, trade unions, and migrants, we cannot reach concrete solutions.
To provide more input, the UNNM invites stakeholders to share reflections and insights on the UNNM Discussion Space.
Member States of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), include: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States, Uzbekistan.
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