UN to discuss Global Compact on Migration

Conectas and partners from Latin America submit document with recommendations for the agreement

UN Member States will hold a meeting this year to adopt the Global Compact on Migration. The agreement is intended to establish a framework for international cooperation on migrants and human mobility. The preparation for the meeting included a consultation process with States and civil society and, as a result of this, Conectas and a number of its partners produced the document “Recommendations for the Global Compact on Migration”.

The adoption of this agreement is one of the resolutions of the “New York Declaration”, which resulted from the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in September 2016. This summit marked the first time that world leaders and heads of State came together at the UN with the aim of improving international cooperation and governance of migration and refugee issues.

• Read the document in full here.

The document produced by Conectas and partners contains recommendations in four main areas: immigration regularization, oversight of deportations, non-criminalization of migration and access to justice. The Global Compact proposes to address all aspects of international migration, but it is still too early to say what the substance of the agreement will be, even though commitments with respect to human rights have been made by States.

The meeting has still not been scheduled, but States have agreed to convene before the United Nations General Assembly that will take place in September 2018, when the Global Compact is expected to be formally adopted.
The recommendations were prepared by Conectas in partnership with CELS, Asylum Access, the Human Rights Center of Diego Portales University, Caref (Argentine Commission for Refugees and Migrants) and Fundar (Center for Analysis and Research).