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The Road to Manila 2008:
International Briefing and Strategy Meeting for Civil
Society Mobilizations and GFMD Parallel Events on Migrants Rights
19 march 2008
United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
From Migrants Rights International News, No. 08/1 (15 April 2008)
Migrant Rights Activists Strategize On 2008 Global Forum on Migration and Development
Participants in event organized by MRI, ICMC and FORUM-Asia express agreement to start planning for global civil society mobilizations and parallel events
In a moment when scapegoating and repression against migrants is intensifying around the world, migrants’ rights activists and other civil society representatives from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America met in Geneva to launch efforts to engage in the Global Forum on Migration in Development (GFMD) to be held in the Philippines in October 2008.
Close to 50 civil society representatives gathered at the United Nations (UN) on 19 March 2008 as part of the event “Road to Manila 2008: An International Briefing and Strategy Meeting for Civil Society Mobilizations and GFMD Parallel Events on Migrants’ Rights.” The event was organized by Migrants Rights International (MRI), International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and FORUM-Asia. The participants represented a variety of civil society groups including migrants’ associations, trade unions, domestic workers unions and groups, national networks, as well as human rights, religious and advocacy organizations. They came from countries including Argentina, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mali, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
The group participated in an Informational Briefing on the GFMD, a new type of annual inter-governmental forum in which discussions by governments on issues related to global migration and development have started to take place. The Manila forum will be the second to take place; the first GFMD was held in Brussels, Belgium in July 2007. Speakers included representatives from MRI, ICMC, and December 18, which organized civil society activities surrounding the Brussels GFMD. MRI had also organized activities around the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development held in New York in 2006, the precursor to the GFMD. Special guest Ambassador Luis Alfonso De Alba (Mexico), the former President of UN Human Rights Council, provided insight into government positions in the GFMD.
Speakers expressed concern that the GFMD thus far has viewed migration policy within an economic development context without sufficient acknowledgement or integration of established human rights laws and principles that protect migrants’ rights. Further, there was increasing alarm that the engagement of civil society within the GFMD process has been very limited; consultation with civil society is not widely viewed as a requisite element of the GFMD process. The GFMD is an intergovernmental forum that is held outside the United Nations structure, thus not subject to existing UN rules established for civil society consultation. The hosting government of the GFMD thus determines if and how civil society should participate.
Subsequent to the briefing, participants engaged in a strategy session to discuss global civil society mobilizations for the GFMD as well the organizing of civil society parallel events leading up to, and during the GFMD in Manila. There was broad agreement that it was necessary for civil society, particularly migrant communities, to engage in a substantial manner in the GFMD. Participants discussed a variety of issues, including developing joint position papers, organizing national and regional consultations, strategies to have an impact on GFMD, and the need for consultation and outreach to ensure participation of migrants and groups from all regions and a diversity of sectors. They agreed to continue discussions and develop joint strategies for engagement in GFMD. MRI has offered to set up an email list as a starting point for continued discussion.
For a more information of these discussions as well as “FAQS about the GFMD”, see the printable PDF version of the MRI Newsletter No. 08/1, or the detailed Notes from these discussions, available at www.migrantwatch.org/Activities