In December 2018, 164 States signed the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). This followed 18 months of negotiation among the UN General Assembly, during which States came together to discuss migration challenges and solutions. Civil society, including IDC, supported States in this process and advocated for them to take particular positions on various issues, such as immigration detention, alternatives to detention (ATD), and ending child immigration detention. The GCM is the official written result of these governmental exchanges and negotiations, and is the world’s first intergovernmental agreement covering all areas of international migration. While non-binding, the GCM provides governments with a UN policy framework for ensuring rights-based migration experiences across the world, more information here.
The GCM includes 23 Objectives which address a wide array of areas within the migration experience, such as regularisation pathways, access to services, discrimination issues, preventing loss of life, labour rights, human trafficking and many more. For IDC, Objective 13 aligns with our mission to reduce and end immigration detention: Use migration detention only as a measure of last resort and work towards alternatives (read the full text of Objective 13 on pages 20-21 of the GCM here.)
IDC was an integral civil society actor in the process of developing and ensuring that Objective 13 reflected existing human rights standards and obligations, and offered a solutions-focused way to action commitments. IDC and partners strategically negotiated and collaborated with different government actors to secure inclusion of particular provisions within Objective 13, including commitments to work towards the end of child immigration detention, to prioritise ATD, and to ensure a human rights-based approach to GCM implementation. While IDC and our partners had even stronger commitments that we wanted on these issues, the resulting Objective 13 in 2018 helped to set concrete milestones for our continuing advocacy towards ending immigration detention for all, particularly through holistic and collaborative whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches that centre impacted migrant communities and leaders with lived experience of detention.
The IMRF
Now, four years later, the UN General Assembly is convening the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), which will formally review the progress of governments and stakeholders in implementing the commitments and principles stated in all of the GCM Objectives. This review will happen every four years, with the inaugural IMRF taking place from 17-20 May 2022 in New York City. Further, States have agreed that each IMRF will produce a Progress Declaration – an official document outlining efforts made towards enacting the GCM framework over the four-year period being reviewed, including suggestions for moving forward and improving progress.
For IDC, a key aim in the lead up to and during the first ever IMRF has been to influence the drafting of this Progress Declaration, particularly in relation to the implementation of Objective 13. To do this, we have been working in close collaboration with civil society partners, leaders with lived experience, UN agencies, governments, local authorities, and other stakeholders invested in this global process, including the State co-facilitators of the IMRF and the Progress Declaration negotiations, Luxembourg and Bangladesh. IDC and partners have been advocating to integrate the following key actions related to Objective 13 into the 2022 Progress Declaration:
- Uphold the GCM guiding principles and ensure there is no regression from the GCM adopted in 2018
- Acknowledge the steps taken by States, civil society actors, and other stakeholders to progress Objective 13 over the past 4 years
- Acknowledge the critical role of migrant communities and ensure full and meaningful participation and collaboration
- Include concrete and practical guidance to phase out immigration detention, and implement rights-based and community-centred ATD where applicable
- Solidify opportunities for peer-learning to enhance international cooperation, whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches
- Build on progress and strengthen the path towards ending child immigration detention that also leads the way to ending immigration detention for all
What happens during the 4 days of the IMRF?
The IMRF is a process led by States and convened by the UN General Assembly, therefore the agenda includes a set of plenaries geared towards facilitating exchange between States. An Interactive Multi-stakeholder Hearing for civil society and other stakeholders will take place on 16 May, as well as four thematic Roundtables on 17 and 18 May covering each of the 23 GCM Objectives. Anyone can view these roundtables, broadcasted here, while those registered and attending can join in person. IDC’s Executive Director Carolina Gottardo will moderate Roundtable 2, which includes Objective 13. Summaries of all four roundtable discussions are then shared in a policy plenary on 18 May, which will also showcase successes, challenges, and gaps in GCM implementation. Finally, on 20 May, the last day of the IMRF, the Progress Declaration will be adopted by Member States.
Further, civil society, UN agencies, governments, local authorities and other stakeholders will host side events during the IMRF to maximise momentum and engagement on various issues. In IDC’s role as co-lead of the UN Network on Migration Working Group on Alternatives to Detention alongside UNICEF and UNHCR, we are co-organising a side event with the governments of Thailand, Portugal, and Colombia. This 19 May panel event will focus on ending child immigration detention, and feature long-time IDC partner Hayat Akbari, a campaigner and advocate with lived experience of child detention, alongside government and UN representatives, and IDC’s Executive Director Carolina Gottardo who will provide insight into upcoming IDC research on detention and ATD. This is an online event, and we cordially invite those interested to join us here.
The UN Secretary General has also commenced a Pledging Initiative, which encourages States, UN agencies, civil society, and other stakeholders to pledge “a measurable commitment to advance the implementation of one or more GCM principles, objectives or actions.” Civil society can engage governments for pledges, which can be submitted here for presentation during the IMRF, and then used to support ongoing advocacy. IDC has been engaged in this initiative by supporting some governments with their pledging processes.
IDC’s Approach During the IMRF & Beyond
For IDC, the IMRF is a key milestone towards building momentum and furthering the global movement to end immigration detention. We do this through analysing the progress, gaps and challenges experienced by governments, civil society, communities, and other stakeholders in implementing Objective 13. Through reflection and taking stock, we identify promising developments, and agree on ways forward to strengthen and expand practices towards ending immigration detention.
To this end, IDC engaged in a series of research initiatives over the past few months, and will release three reports on immigration detention, ATD and Objective 13 implementation:
- Gaining Ground: Promising Practice to Reduce and End Immigration Detention – a global mapping that overviews promising ATD practices across the world
- Immigration Detention and ATD in the Asia Pacific Region – a UN Network on Migration collaboration providing insights on regional promising practice
- An IDC and UNICEF MENA collaborative mapping report identifying promising practice to end child immigration detention in the region
This strong and new evidence-base creates a catalyst for invigorating targeted peer-learning at regional and global levels, as well as exchange of technical expertise within and across regions, which will make IDC and our members and partners more impactful on the ground. Since its inception, IDC has prioritised the development of national, regional and global communities of practice that aim to change legal frameworks, policies and practice, and build more effective government and civil society partnerships through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. IDC’s new research provides cutting-edge knowledge that can be used to make collaborative change through concrete action. This strengthens existing communities of practice and peer learning exchanges, and ultimately supports governments in implementing Objective 13 by looking into promising developments and addressing challenges and gaps.
More broadly, the IMRF gives all of us in the migration sector an opportunity to shape the global narrative of civil society advocacy. We identify the wins and losses for ourselves, and ensure that communities affected by migration policies are provided with the opportunity to lead in advocacy that directly impacts their own lives. Global events such as these are best utilised when civil society engages to showcase and build our collective expertise across the world. In particular for IDC, the IMRF is a critical moment to connect local, national, regional and global advocacy, and ensure that grassroots expertise and leaders with lived experience of detention are centred at each and every level.
As the focus moving forward will be strongly placed on national implementation, including further promoting voluntary national reviews of implementation and the development of national action plans by governments, all of our roles in actualising the GCM are most important beyond the 2022 IMRF. Civil society must be ready to organise, engage, and advocate to ensure governments are living up to their GCM commitments on the ground. While the IMRF is an opportunity to reflect and take stock, it is also an opportunity to envision and plan for strengthening and scaling up progress in the years to come, and ensure that real impact on the lives of migrant communities is at the centre of our changemaking.
For continued updates on the IMRF, please subscribe to the UN Network on Migration newsletter here, and view live streaming coverage of the IMRF in UN official languages at the UN TV website here. Please also contact IDC Global Advocacy Coordinator Silvia Gomez [email protected] for more information.
Written by Carolina Gottardo Executive Director, Silvia Gómez Global Advocacy Coordinator & Mia-lia Boua Kiernan Communications & Engagement Coordinator