Global initiatives addressing migration are distinct from the global processes on migration discussed in Inter-State policy dialogue on migration. Global processes on migration are ongoing forums for informal and non-binding dialogue that address a broad range of issues in regular meetings. Global initiatives, however, usually pursue a very concrete aim and are underpinned by an outcome document. Such outcome documents have specific principles and objectives that have been agreed to, and endorsed by, States, often through a process of negotiation. In endorsing the outcome document, States commit to consider its specific principles and objectives in the course of their own national policymaking.
The range of global initiatives addressing migration reflects the ongoing and increasing importance of migration. While many initiatives were launched in response to other thematic concerns – such as development, the environment and humanitarian action - they address migration as an integral component of these concerns.
Most of these initiatives have one principal thing in common: they result in non-binding agreements on principles and action. Such agreements differ from the type of binding conventions that more typically emerge from United Nations initiatives. In deference to State concerns about sovereignty, these agreements focus on implementing effective practices in ways that can be moulded to suit the principles and best interests of the States involved.
Over time, and as migration has become a more and more prominent concern in the global policy agenda, migration has become itself the primary theme of some of these initiatives.
| All dimensions of migration and refugees |
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| Migration and development |
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| Mobility dimensions of crises |
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| Migration and urbanization |
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| Migration, environment and climate change |
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| Labour migration and mobility |
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Note: This list is not exhaustive.
The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016. It affirms the commitment of States to respond to and address concerns relating to the movement of large numbers of refugees and migrants. The Declaration acknowledges that States have a shared responsibility to manage the movements of large numbers of refugees and migrants in a “humane, sensitive, compassionate and people-centred manner” and to provide them with “comprehensive policy support, assistance and protection, consistent with States’ obligations under international law” (UNGA, 2016a: 2–3).
The Declaration sets out commitments that apply to refugees and migrants collectively. These include providing humanitarian support, facilitating access to health care and education, promoting collaboration between States to respond collectively to the situation of refugees and migrants globally, and strengthening the capacity of States to respond in these ways. As well, recognizing the different drivers of migration, the declaration also sets out some commitments that apply separately to refugees, and others that apply only to migrants. Furthermore, the Declaration called for a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (subsequently called the Global Compact on Refugees) and a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration are important commitments that facilitate international cooperation on migration. They have advanced such cooperation by helping States reach shared ideas of how to govern and manage migration in a manner which protects human lives and makes migration beneficial for all. They have addressed a wide range of migration-related issues, involving many stakeholders, and putting in place new institutional arrangements to help States work together on migration management.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (alternatively referred to as the Global Compact for Migration) is the first comprehensive United Nations framework adopted through intergovernmental negotiations to enhance international cooperation in global migration governance. It is a non-legally-binding framework that reaffirms the sovereignty of States in migration management based on a common understanding, a shared responsibility and a unity of purpose to improve the benefits of migration for all. Its implementation is State-led, in partnership with the relevant stakeholders and with the United Nations system-wide support.
Its principal purpose is to enhance cooperation on international migration in all its dimensions so that migration occurs in a safe, orderly and regular manner for the benefit of all, while reducing the incidence and negative impact of irregular migration. It is rooted in the Agenda for 2030 for Sustainable Development (see Key initiatives and commitments on migration and sustainable development below) and rests on United Nations Charters and international law. The Compact offers an aspirational approach, that is, it describes what the international community expects migration policy and practice to be in the future.
The Global Compact for Migration sets out 23 specific objectives, each followed by a short paragraph stating a commitment. Each commitment is then followed by concrete actions or options that endorsing States may choose to implement to fulfil the commitment. These objectives and actions are in line with the Compact’s 10 cross-cutting and interdependent guiding principles:
| OBJECTIVES FOR SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION | |
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| 1 | Collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies |
| 2 | Minimize the adverse drivers and structural factors that compel people to leave their country of origin |
| 3 | Provide accurate and timely information at all stages of migration |
| 4 | Ensure that all migrants have proof of legal identity and adequate documentation |
| 5 | Enhance availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration |
| 6 | Facilitate fair and ethical recruitment and safeguard conditions that ensure decent work |
| 7 | Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration |
| 8 | Save lives and establish coordinated international efforts on missing migrants |
| 9 | Strengthen the transnational response to smuggling of migrants |
| 10 | Prevent, combat and eradicate trafficking in persons in the context of international migration |
| 11 | Manage borders in an integrated, secure and coordinated manner |
| 12 | Strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral |
| 13 | Use migration detention only as a measure of last resort and work towards alternatives |
| 14 | Enhance consular protection, assistance and cooperation throughout the migration cycle |
| 15 | Provide access to basic services for migrants |
| 16 | Empower migrants and societies to realize full inclusion and social cohesion |
| 17 | Eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote evidence-based public discourse to shape perceptions of migration |
| 18 | Invest in skills development and facilitate mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences |
| 19 | Create conditions for migrants and diasporas to fully contribute to sustainable development in all countries |
| 20 | Promote faster, safer and cheaper transfer of remittances and foster financial inclusion of migrants |
| 21 | Cooperate in facilitating safe and dignified return and readmission, as well as sustainable reintegration |
| 22 | Establish mechanisms for the portability of social security entitlements and earned benefits |
| 23 | Strengthen international cooperation and global partnerships for safe, orderly and regular migration |
Taken directly from the Global Compact for Migration, 2018a.
The Global Compact for Migration was adopted on 10 December 2018 at the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration held in Marrakesh, Morocco. On 19 December 2018 it was endorsed by 152 countries in the United Nations General Assembly.
The Global Compact for Migration can be viewed as a toolkit, or a menu of options that governments can choose from based on their contexts and needs, to work towards achieving the 23 objectives. It is not a one-size-fits-all document. Governments decide which objective(s) are highest priority in their context, and then decide which of the actions they may wish to pursue.
To support the implementation by the State, a capacity building mechanism has been established in the United Nations including the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (start-up fund) and the Migration Network Hub (global knowledge platform and connection hubs) (read more on the United Nations Network on Migration in Intergovernental organizations).
The Compact includes a follow-up, implementation and review process, calling on Member States - through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach - to develop GCM national implementation plans, and hold both regional and global reviews on an alternating quadrennial basis. This means various actors are involved in the process, including all levels and sectors of government as well as
migrants, civil society, migrant and diaspora organizations, faith-based organizations, local authorities and communities, the private sector, trade unions, parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, academia, the media, private sector, and other relevant stakeholders.
Global Compact for Migration, paragraph 15 (i) and (j).
While the Compact is non-binding, it tasks the Secretary-General to issue a biennial report on the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration, and welcomes the Secretary-General’s creation of the United Nations Network on Migration (Network) to provide United Nations system-wide support to the Member States for their implementation, follow-up and review of the Global Compact (read more on the United Nations and other Intergovernmental Organizations in Actors and partnerships for migration).
The International Migration Review Forum serves as the primary intergovernmental global platform for Member States to discuss and share progress on the implementation of all aspects of the Global Compact for Migration, including as it relates to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and with the participation of all relevant stakeholders. To this end, the United Nations General Assembly established the modalities of the Forum to assess progress in implementing the Global Compact for Migration. The Forum will be convened under the auspices of the General Assembly every four years from 2022. It will be a high-level meeting of Heads of State and will welcome the Network and all relevant stakeholders as outlined in the Global Compact for Migration. Multi-stakeholder hearings will be held on the day preceding the four-day forum, during which the 23 objectives of the Global Compact for Migration will be discussed in four roundtables.
The discussions are meant to be interactive, evidence-based and action-oriented. To that end, all stakeholders are invited to contribute data, best practices, innovative approaches and recommendations related to the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration and opportunities for further cooperation. All inputs shared with the United Nations Network on Migration from the local, national, regional and global levels will be made available at the dedicated Network website as part of the support provided by the Network in preparing and organizing the Forum.
Annex I of the New York Declaration sets out the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to develop a Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), based on the CRRF. The CRRF identifies key elements needed to respond fully and successfully to any large movement of refugees. These include:
In August 2018, as part of the report of the UNHCR, the GCR was presented to the United Nations General Assembly and adopted by the latter in December 2018. The GCR consists of two main components: the CRRF, as set out in the New York Declaration; and a programme of action. Similar to the Global Compact for Migration, the GCR sets out key guiding principles and objectives.
| PRINCIPLES |
The Global Compact [on Refugees] emanates from fundamental principles of humanity and international solidarity, and seeks to operationalize the principles of burden- and responsibility-sharing to better protect and assist refugees and support host countries and communities. The Global Compact is entirely non-political in nature, including in its implementation, and is in line with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It is grounded in the international refugee protection regime, centred on the cardinal principle of non-refoulement, and at the core of which is the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. |
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| OBJECTIVES |
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Taken directly from the Global Compact on Refugees, 2018b.
Follow-up and review of the Global Compact for Refugees will be conducted through:
In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Migration features prominently in this agenda, which is a remarkable development considering that migration was absent from the Millennium Development Goals. The 2030 Agenda laid out a series of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These SDGs break new ground by recognizing the “positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth” and the “multi-dimensional reality” of migration (UNGA, 2015a).
Migration is referred to in several goals and targets of the SDGs, in particular through a dedicated target on “facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people”, which is part of goal 10 on reducing inequalities. As shown in figures 2 and 3, migration is both directly and indirectly related to the SDGs.
IOM, 2018.
IOM, 2018.
The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted in 2015, incorporates a wide range of issues related to development financing, most of which may be applicable and relevant to migration policies, legislation and administrative procedures. However, the Action Agenda makes specific reference to migration, too, and can be directly useful when developing concrete measures to address migration issues. It is important that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda includes these migration-related sections for at least two reasons. First, it recognizes the value of migration in the overall development process. And second, it affirms the need for development financing mechanisms to enhance cooperation and strengthen the capacity of States and other actors in the management and governance of migration.
| REMITTANCES |
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| SAFE, ORDERLY AND REGULAR MIGRATION |
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| TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS |
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Addis Ababa Action Agenda, 2015b.
Between 2014 and 2016, States and other actors concerned with the safety and resilience of migrants in the context of crises engaged in the Migrants in Countries in Crisis Initiative. Through a broad State-led consultative process, the initiative aimed to gather lessons learned, evidence and effective practices to guide efforts to reduce migrants’ vulnerability in the face of disasters and conflict.
Co-chaired by the United States and the Philippines, and with IOM support, the MICIC steering group included:
The key principles, operational recommendations, effective practices and key resources of MICIC are not binding. These elements have been compiled in the Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster (MICIC, 2016). While they apply also to private sector actors, international organizations, civil society entities and any other relevant stakeholders, they recognize that States bear primary responsibility for protecting migrants in countries experiencing conflicts or natural disasters.
The Guidelines are based on well-recognized humanitarian and human rights principles. In particular, they provide guidance in fifteen thematic areas that address key crisis-related migration management efforts that take place before, during and after crises.
MICIC Initiative, 2016.
For more information on how States can prepare for, respond to and recover from crises in ways that protect and empower migrants, leverage their capacities, and help them, as well as their communities, recover from crises as per the MICIC guidelines, see Mobility dimensions of crises. For crises related to environmental and climate factors, see Migration, environment and climate change.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015. It aims to achieve substantial reduction in disaster risk and in losses to all lives, livelihoods and health, and to the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries, resulting from disaster. While not specific to issues of migration, the framework nonetheless is applicable to migrants and refugees who may become affected by natural and human-induced hazards.
Several of its provisions across priority areas relate to migration governance, including managing and addressing disaster-induced mobility. The SFDRR recognizes migrants as one of the key populations of modern communities and societies and calls for their inclusion in the design and implementation of disaster risk reduction.
For more on the nexus between migration, disasters and disaster risk reduction outlined in the SFDRR, see Mobility dimensions of crises.
The Grand Bargain is an agreement between more than 30 large donor States and organizations in humanitarian and development activities. It aims to increase efficiency and ensure predictability and continuity in funding support for humanitarian activities. In acknowledging the gap in funding for humanitarian activities, the then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a high-level panel in 2015 to consider new ways and opportunities to address this. The report of the high-level panel introduced the concept of the “grand bargain” and proposed that if donors and agencies each make changes, then aid delivery would become more efficient. For instance, if donors reduced earmarking and agencies were more transparent with how funds are spent, then human and financial resources would be freed up, to the direct benefit of affected populations (United Nations High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, 2016).
While broadly about funding and aid for humanitarian activities, the Grand Bargain does include refugees and displaced persons as a specific category of people in need of humanitarian aid. Read more in Commitments and initiatives in Prevention, preparedness and reducing risk, Emergency response and Solutions and recovery.
The New Urban Agenda was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in October 2016 and was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in December of the same year. It is based on the following interlinked principles as laid out in the New Urban Agenda (UNGA, 2017):
The New Urban Agenda pays special attention to the situation of refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons in the context of urbanization. A number of references are included in recommended actions in the agenda to support receiving communities while ensuring full respect for the human rights of people on the move. In addition to minimizing the challenges posed by large-scale incoming flows of people, the agenda encourages seizing opportunities for mutual benefit and for cities’ development.
Because most migrants move to urban centres, the agenda reflects the crucial role of cities in managing migration. Global cities play a vital role in the international economic system, and 19 per cent of the world’s foreign-born population resides in such cities (Migration Data Portal). These cities are where many migrants, refugees and displaced persons encounter economic, social, educational, welfare and other services. It is important that local (city) authorities have the necessary policy and administrative capacity to provide these services. But it is also important that the inputs from local authorities be merged with national, regional and global thinking about migration management and migration governance. A good example of how this can be achieved is the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Mayors Mechanism. The work of the Mayors Mechanism feeds into global agendas like the Urban Agenda by compiling examples of how global principles and commitments have been or can be implemented on the ground (see more on the Mayors Mechanism in the discussion on the role of States in migration governance and management in Actors and partnerships for migration).
IOM Migration Data Portal, 2021.
The Nansen Initiative’s Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Protection Agenda) is a toolbox of measures that States and other actors can use to protect displaced persons moving across borders as a result of disasters and to manage disaster displacement risk in the countries of origin. The Protection Agenda was the outcome of a series of intergovernmental regional consultations and civil society meetings that were convened by the Nansen Initiative. It was endorsed by more than 100 States at a global intergovernmental consultation in October 2015.
The State-led Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) established at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016 follows up on the work of the Nansen Initiative and aims to support States to implement the recommendations of the Protection Agenda.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration establishes non-binding principles and guidelines for a rights-based and gender-sensitive approach to labour migration. It aims to assist governments, social partners (such as workers’ and employers’ organizations) and other stakeholders in their efforts to regulate labour migration and protect migrant workers. Namely, the framework:
In 2004, the 92nd Session of the International Labour Conference adopted, by consensus, a resolution on a fair deal for migrant workers in the global economy, which called for an ILO Plan of Action on Labour Migration. This plan was recently revisited in light of the Global Compact for Migration. Central to the plan was the development of the Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration, which was adopted at an ILO tripartite meeting of experts in 2005.
The Framework is a useful tool for governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and all those who are involved in the development, strengthening, implementation and evaluation of national, regional and international labour migration policies and practices.