The Zero drafts of two new global compacts – one on migrants and one on refugees – are now available. These compacts turn the political commitments of the New York Declaration, adopted unanimously by all 193 UN Member States during the High-Level Summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants in September 2016, into a set of actionable commitments for State implementation.
While commitments remain weak in both compacts for people affected by immigration detention, there are significant opportunities for IDC and its members to advocate for and support those commitments that promote humane and effective responses to large movements of migrants and refugees.
Notably, through the New York Declaration, Member States have already committed to pursue alternatives to immigration detention and to work towards ending child immigration detention. During the current drafting phase of the global compacts, IDC will be working with partners to strengthen language and commitments in both compacts to ensure these principles are transposed into action. A key strategy for the IDC has been to develop 2 roadmaps that outline milestones for States to achieve in the coming years: one for ensuring no child is detained and one for ensuring alternatives to detention are implemented.
Here, the IDC analyses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Zero Drafts for expanding alternatives to immigration detention and for upholding the normative standard that children should never be detained. The analysis of the Zero Draft of each compact below includes key messages for you to use in your advocacy work ahead.