MEDIA RELEASE

Civil Society Prepares for International Meet, 22 June 2008

Migrant worker support groups have kicked off the so-called Philippine process of the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights to prepare for the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).

The Second GFMD will be hosted by the Philippines on October 27 to 30, with government and nongovernment representatives of various labor-exporting and labor-importing countries of the world in attendance.

The Philippine process was launched on June 17, and the Mindanao leg of the consultations was already conducted in Davao City on Friday, June 20, said Ellene Sana, coordinator of the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA). It is one of the country’s key nongovernment organizations (NGOs) involved in local and international lobbying for migrant workers.

CMA is a member of the Philippine Working Group on GFMD, a coalition of civil society organizations in the Philippines that is organizing the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights.

“This is an independent civil society event, separate from the official ‘civil society days’ of October 27 and 28,” said Sana.

The GFMD is comprised of two processes, the Civil Society Days (October 27-28) and the intergovernmental meetings (October 29-30).

“While there is official civil society days programmed into the GFMD, this is very restrictive and will not allow the participation of a large number or range of civil society groups. This underscores the need to mainstream the voices of migrant workers, and members of their families, and reintroduce the voice and concrete contribution of the migrants, NGOs and civil society organizations in the global debate,” said Sana.

The NGOs’ Civil Society Days will include workshops, panel discussions, mobilizations, time for internal meetings of organizations, space for self-organized workshops, cultural performances, and other activities.

The Second GFMD is an outcome of the United Nations High Level Dialogue held in New York in September 2006. It is an inter-governmental forum, or a meeting of governments, that has started to take place every year to discuss issues related to migration and development.

The GFMD has become one of the principal international spaces in which governments discuss migration and development policy. The first GFMD was held in Brussels, Belgium, in July 2007.

http://www.ofw.pinoyoverseas.net/?p=31

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