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“Just imagine: In 20 years when Europe will be looking for workers, every African will have gone to China …”

The United Nation’s quest for a global migration governance

This scenario was drawn – with a twinkle in the eye but probably also with a grain of truth – in the context of a dialogue program for migration experts hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in New York. This dialogue program took place from May 21st to 24th and marked the beginning of a research project on “Regional Cooperation in Migration Management and Refugee Protection”. Throughout the next twelve months ten experts from all parts of the world will study the status-quo and potentials of regional cooperation in the area of migration-management and refugee protection.

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The aim of the kick-off meeting in New York was to present the research project to relevant actors in the field and to immerse into the corresponding discussions and processes at the United Nations. During the three days visit to New York the delegation met experts from the UN Special Representative´s office for International Migration, UNHCR, IOM and ILO. Particularly with specialists of those bodies very close to or directly from the UN system the discussions focused very much on the two Global Compacts deriving from the New York Declaration (see below). Furthermore, the group enjoyed the exchange with experts from the Migration Policy Institute, the Center for Migration Studies, the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility of The New School and the International Migration Initiative of the Open Society Foundations. The delegates met as well with representatives of the EU and of the Permanent Missions of Malta, Mexico and Germany to the UN. Discussions about resettlement programs in the US with the International Rescue Committee and HIAS completed the picture. During the numerous talks the KAS delegates took the opportunity to present their project and to review their central research questions. Interestingly, several experts encouraged the delegation to stick to their regional focus, as this perspective seems to be widely neglected.

Furthermore, the delegation had the excellent opportunity to attend the second thematic session on “Human-Made Crises as Drivers of Migration” at the UN headquarters. This meeting of civil society actors from all over the world was part of the preparatory process for the Global Compact for Migration, and was therefor an outstanding opportunity to get an idea of how such consultation processes at the UN work.

The experts who are joining KAS for this project cover with their daily activities regional cooperation structures such as the African Union, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Economic Community of Western African States, the Arab League, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mercosur and the European Union. The scholars represent impactful think tanks, universities and organizations such as the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg and the Centre for South Asian Studies in Kathmandu.

The Background

September 2016 brought the migration issue to the center stage of the United Nations - for the first time. The European countries had lobbied for a new mechanism of responsibility sharing for refugees on a global level. However, especially the countries of South America argued, that to mirror a new global solidarity-mechanism for refugees, new general rules to regulate the movement of people in general would need to be put in place.

The time seemed right for migration issues - which had been pending for decades - to get the necessary attention. Migration governance became a priority topic, not only for the UN, but also for the G7 and the G20 presidencies. The reasons for this focus are manifold: the numbers of refugees and migrants are continuously growing, the flows are more often mixed - migration hardly ever is monocausal - and the characterization of states as sending, transit, receiving or return-countries fade. Therefore most countries worldwide are confronted with challenges in connection to migration and in urgent need to find durable solutions. The task involves thinking beyond local, national and regional interests and responsibilities; furthermore, it seems necessary to think ahead and imagine the world in twenty or even fifty years.

GCR and GCM

As a result of the September 19th 2016 summit the New York Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly. This Declaration, at first glance, can easily be described as a list of hopes and wishes. However, the two Annexes to the Declaration set a clear goal establishing and structuring two very different and separate processes: the Global Compact on Refugees, GCR and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, GCM. The idea is to reach the defined targets of these two agreements within a two year period, by September 2018. The GCR will focus on responsibility sharing and develop a comprehensive refugee response framework, building mainly on the experience from eight countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico). The goal is to ease the pressure on host communities, improve the self-reliance of refugees, increase third country solutions and establish conditions of safe return. This implies a shift from short-term humanitarian aid to long-term development policy, addressing the whole society. Predictable and sustainable financing are a key element of the new framework in which the World Bank will play a major role. Close cooperation with civil society is another element distinguishing GCR from GCM.

While the Global Refugee Compact will deal with very practical questions of improved cooperation and responsibility sharing in the event of large movements of refugees, the GCM aims to establish a global normative foundation for migration governance. The decision to include the International Organization for Migration into the UN family is one important step into this direction. Furthermore, the GCM aims to highlight the contribution of migrants to development – in the receiving countries as well as in the sending countries (through remittances) but it also addresses cooperation in border control, labor rights and integration efforts, as well as return and readmission, the role of the diaspora and efforts to combat racism and xenophobia.

While the 1951 Geneva Convention with the principle of non-refoulement lies at the heart of the international norms of refugee protection, widely accepted international regulations do not exist for migrants. Will this gap be filled by the GCM? And will the GCM be able to narrow its focus? So far, in order to appeal for a safe, orderly and regular movement of people, human rights in general have been evoked. The human rights link is also underlined by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, while the Global Compact on Refugees, GCR, will reaffirm the commitment to the 1951 Geneva Convention and its Protocol of 1967, it will be a very difficult task of the Global Compact on Migration, GCM, to develop norms. Such norms should be guided by principles, such as human dignity.

Prospects

Whether the GCM and the GCR will become success stories will significantly depend on alliances to be built. As the USA are likely to be less engaged in the two processes, the importance of Germany and the European Union are expected to grow. However, experts agree that it will take leaders from all continents to turn the compacts into agreements with a strong impact. At the onset of the negotiation processes some worry that the African countries might not be engaged enough. This could lead to a representation and credibility gap.

Especially the Global Compact on Migration poses a historical chance. Time frame and agenda are ambitious and the notion prevails that the window of opportunity is narrow. According to the opinion of many experts there won´t be another major effort at the United Nations in the near future addressing the challenges with regard to international migration if the GCM does not succeed.

For KAS New York it was a great pleasure to host the kick-off meeting of this promising research project. To start in one of the hubs of multilateral cooperation was door-opening and enabled the participants to establish valuable contacts with key actors in the field. The first findings of the expert group are to be expected in October 2017 in order to be in time for the next steps of the consultation process of the Global Compact for Migration.

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