Geneva – The first regional review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region begins today (12/11). This will be a key opportunity for States in the region to review the implementation of their commitments in the GCM -a cooperative framework addressing international migration in all its dimensions- and to assess whether regional and national policies are aligned with the Compact.
“Key to the Global Compact on Migration is the undertaking by States to enable all concerned to review progress made in its implementation,” said António Vitorino, the Coordinator of the UN Network on Migration and Director General of the International Organization for Migration.
The two-day virtual intergovernmental event is preceded by a one-day consultation on 9 November bringing together representatives of migrant communities, diasporas, local communities, civil society, faith-based organizations, academia, the private sector, parliamentarians, trade unions, National Human Rights Institutions, the media, children and young people, and others. Their discussions of the challenges and progress made in implementing the GCM in the UNECE region will feed into the formal deliberations later in the week, where they will also actively participate as speakers alongside government representatives.
The Network’s Coordinator stressed the importance of the review aspect of the GCM. “This feature ensures that the GCM will be more than a statement of aspirations, but a commitment to achieving real progress in the pursuit of migration policies and practices that are safe, orderly and regular for all,” he added.
Featuring four thematic roundtables and supported by the United Nations Network on Migration, the regional review will focus on all objectives outlined in the GCM. Guiding the discussion will be a set of cross-cutting and interdependent guiding principles enshrined in the GCM, which will assist States and stakeholders in having a meaningful dialogue.
To date, close to thirty voluntary national reports from Member States and Stakeholders in UNECE region were submitted. All materials related to this meeting are available here.
Regional reviews in other regions will be held in early 2021.
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For more information, please contact Florence Kim at the UN Network on Migration secretariat: fkim@iom.int; +41 79 748 0395.
*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).