From ICPD to GFMD: Charting progress in international migration policy

From ICPD to GFMD: Charting progress in international migration policy

Dr. Colleen Thouez, Senior training and research adviser

UNITAR New York

14 October 2010 GFMD Briefing Panel, UN Headquarters

2From ICPD to GFMD: Charting Progress…

Outline

I-The migration regime: what is it and how has it come about?

II-What the regime represents: where do we stand?

III-Achievements and what lies ahead.

The migration regime

What is it and how has it come about?


The migration regime

1. Governance: institutions and legal frameworks;

2. Common understandings: “housed” within;

3. Global human mobility= inter + intra migration;

4. The experience of regimes in other transnational areas;

5. International migration policy: 20 years of dialogue.


History of dialogue: shaping in the 1990s

RCPs (IGC in 1986; Budapest in 1991; Puebla in 1996; Lima in 1999; )

1994: ICPD Chapter X “blue print” by States on international migration

First GA resolution on migration and development


History of dialogue continued: 2000-

2001: Berne Initiative to narrow in on a “blue print”; IAMM

2002: Doyle Report, how can UN strengthen its role?

2004-2005: GCIM

2006: First UN HLD (next in 2013)

2007-2010: GFMD1-GFMD4

2011: GA Informal thematic debate


Outcomes of dialogue

Institutionally:

Sustained inter-state dialogue;

Greater visibility within UN;

Stronger UN coordination (via GMG);

Global reach of regional discussions (via RCPs).

Legally:

Consolidation of IML and its dissemination;

Growing recognition of certain common understandings?

What the regime stands for

Where do we stand in our understanding?


Common understandings

Migration as a choice;

Mutual responsibility;

Capacities, coherence and cooperation.

Areas for further progress:

Migrants rights are human rights: issue of undocumented;

Necessity of mainstreaming migration into development planning.

Documents

From ICPD to GFMD: Charting progress in international migration policy