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Regional Information Brief

Regional Information Brief

January 2025

Asia and the Pacific Region

This Brief provides an overview of the current state of the UN Network on Migration and aspects of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in the Asia and the Pacific Region. It serves as an introduction and background for the second Regional Review of the GCM in Asia and the Pacific which will be co-organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Regional United Nations Network on Migration for Asia and the Pacific from 4 to 6 February 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Download now (PDF)

 

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific consists of 53 members and 9 Associate Members. France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America are member States primarily located outside the region. These Member States are covered in other Regional Information Briefs.

UN Network on Migration in Asia and the Pacific Region

The Regional United Nations Network on Migration for Asia and the Pacific (The Regional Network) was established in November 2019 and aims to facilitate effective, timely and coordinated United Nations system-wide support to Member States on the implementation of the GCM. The Regional Network consists of UN agencies in the region and is convened by IOM (as the Coordinator and Secretariat of the UNNM). The Regional Network is guided by a Regional Executive Committee.

 

22 UN Country Networks on Migration established in Asia and the Pacific Region

 

Click on each country to get direct access to the Country Network’s Terms of Reference.


Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Georgia, Indonesia, IranKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstn, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, VietNam.

 

8 GCM Champion countries in the region

 

 

The GCM Champion countries initiative is a voluntary collective of Member States committed to promoting effective GCM implementation, follow-up and review. It provides space for Member States, working with the Regional Network, to exchange and share insights, lessons learned and promising practices and accelerate actions for the achievement of the objectives of the GCM, its vision and guiding principles. Launched in 2020, the Champion countries community has grown in size – now standing at 37 Member States across the globe – including 8 in Asia and the Pacific.

 

Practices

The Migration Network Hub’s Repository of Practices showcases practices that contribute to GCM implementation from around the world, from local and national to regional and global levels. Anyone working on migration can submit a practice for peer review; those of relevance and utility to the GCM are published in the Repository.

 

74 practices from the Asia and the Pacific Region represent 21 per cent of all practices globally.

Most practices cover multiple GCM Objectives.

 

 

 

 

 

Countries where practices are implemented

A practice may be implemented in multiple countries.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights from Asia and the Pacific Region

 

Social Security Extended for Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia

Organization of “Migration School” Projects to Raise Awareness and Strengthen Capacity Building of Youth on Migration

 

Establishing Monocentres of Skills Development and Country Orientation for Potential Migrants in Uzbekistan
 

Raising Pakistani Migrant Worker’s Awareness of their Right to Fair Recruitment

 

 

Pledges

A pledge is a measurable commitment to advance the implementation of GCM Guiding Principles, Objectives, or actions. It can take various forms, including financial contributions, human resource support, process-oriented commitments, and policy-oriented commitments. Pledges should be concrete, measurable, realistic, forward-looking, time-bound, and preferably developed in partnership with others, consistent with international law and the 2030 Agenda.

 

63 pledges have been submitted.

 

They come from seven Member States, three local authorities and nine civil society organizations.

A pledge may be implemented in multiple countries and cover multiple GCM Objectives. The figure below shows all GCM Objectives covered in the 63 pledges.

 

 

Member States and stakeholders are encouraged to report on the implementation of their pledges through the webform here.

11 Voluntary GCM Reports ahead of the International Migration Review Forum 2022


 

 

 


 

Click on each country to get direct access to the Voluntary GCM reports.

Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan

 

Capacity Building for 14 UN Country Teams

14 UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in the Asia and the Pacific Region have received or will soon receive support from the Network’s regional facilitation teams to explore how safe, orderly and regular migration can be integrated into their work with governments and stakeholders. This is part of an effort supported by the GCM Capacity Building Mechanism’s Demand-driven Facility to strengthen a UN system-wide and whole-of-government approach for implementing the GCM and accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

 

 

 

 

Click on the countries to get more information about the UN Network.

ArmeniaBangladesh, CambodiaGeorgiaIndonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives (Planned 2025), Sri Lanka (Planned 2025), Tajikistan,  ThailandTurkmenistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan

 

 

Learn more about mobilizing the UN System and the Network Demand-driven Facility support to UNCTs:

 

More information on the Demand-driven Facility and Strengthening the UN System in implementing the GCM here.

 

Demand-driven technical assistance for Member States

The first country in the region to receive short-term technical assistance via the Demand-driven Facility is Türkiye. The Demand-driven Facility leverages the capacities, guidance and tools of the Network to provide short-term assistance to help Member States advance GCM commitments. The Regional Network is making efforts to extend support to additional countries in the near future.
Examples of direct technical assistance for Member States from other regions can be found below:

 

 

6-step guidance to support Member States with GCM implementation planning can be found here.

 

 

 

Information about this support can be found here.

 

Stakeholder engagement

  • Asia-Pacific stakeholders are actively involved in global Network activities. This includes participation at the IMRF and its preparatory consultations, organizing and speaking at GCM Talks and participating as members of regional and global workstreams. Stakeholders from the region also occupy the civil society seat on the Steering Committee of the MPTF.

  • The Regional UN Network has established an Asia-Pacific Stakeholder Advisory Group on the GCM. This group collaborates with the Regional UN Network to facilitate stakeholder engagement during the preparation for, execution of, and follow-up activities related to the GCM Regional Review in Asia and the Pacific.

  • Supported by the Regional UN Network, the Stakeholder Advisory Group is organizing several multi-stakeholder consultations in anticipation of the Regional Review. These efforts include four virtual thematic consultations addressing various GCM objectives and a hybrid consultation in the Pacific (Fiji).

  • Additionally, there are country-level workshops focused on GCM implementation, such as national stakeholder consultations in Bangladesh involving members of the stakeholder facilitation team. These workshops emphasize planning for stakeholder partnership actions at the country level.


 

 

Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund

The Fund Steering Committee has set the total capitalization target at USD 150 million by the next International Migration Review Forum (2026). To date, approximately 43 per cent of this target has been mobilized (USD 65M) from 21 Member States.

 

Joint Programmes

 

 

8 Joint Programmes funded

in the Asia and the Pacific Region (out of 27 worldwide).

 

 

 

 

10 Joint Programmes are in the MMPTF Pipeline

 

 

 

3 Steering Committee members from the region

 

 


 


 

5 Member States from the Asia-Pacific Region have contributed to the MMPTF

 

 

 

 

 

GCM implementation, follow-up and review: Resources and tools

The 2025 Regional Review in the Asia and the Pacific Region provides States and stakeholders, including regional consultative processes, an opportunity to assess their progress in implementing the objectives and guiding principles of the GCM, with a particular focus on regional collaboration and dialogue. Download here the roadmap for the Regional Review process for the Asia and the Pacific Region.


 

GCM Review Timeline


 

 



 

 

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).