"Ensure migrants participation in GCM" APMM's Asis highlights in HLPF Side Event

On the third day of the UN High-Level Political Forum, July 8, APMM’s Rey Asis participated in a Virtual Side Event on the key lessons learned from the GCM regional review processes.

The Side Event entitled, "Advancing the implementation for the Global Compact for Migration: Key lessons learned from the GCM regional review processes (inputs from the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions)" was organised by the Philippine government, the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations, and UN Migration Network and the UN Economic and Social Commission in the Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). 

Speaking on behalf of civil society and the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism, Asis said that the GCM and Agenda 2030 will not be truly realisable until they are based on the concrete situation and aspiration of migrants. The pandemic has aggravated migrant joblessness, displacement, already vulnerable living and working conditions – and civil space has also shrunk.

Asis then talked about findings from APMM’s Echo conference organized with boniĝi monitoring, namely that few migrants are aware of the GCM but are keen on joining once they know. He also shared that consultations of the GCM at the national level have yet to happen, and regional reviews still face the challenge of access.

To close his speech, Asis gave four recommendations:

1. Migrant-focused initiatives should be developed to help acquaint migrants with the Global Compact

2. National-level & regional-level stakeholders’ consultations should be initiated, with particular attention paid to language justice

3. CSO-led consultations that have a transparent, accountable, and democratic process should be supported

4. And most importantly, that migrants’ voices in the process be ensured

Below is Asis' complete intervention:

Excellencies, colleagues in the civil society, migrants’ rights advocates, warm solidarity greetings. 

On behalf of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, I extend our appreciation for the invitation to speak in this panel and share our insights on the Asia Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the development challenges facing migrants today, as well as highlight recommendations for building an effective and inclusive path to achieve the 2030 Agenda and identify actionable next steps in GCM implementation. 

As a regional institution for migrants and migration, the APMM has always worked for empowerment of stakeholders, especially of grassroots migrants. We believe that the GCM and Agenda 2030 will not be truly responsive, realisable and sustainable if they are not grounded on the concrete realities and aspirations of migrants, especially if they neglect to involve migrants themselves in all themes, spaces, and levels.

Discussions around  the GCM and the Agenda 2030 that involve [directly engage] migrants have become even more important and urgent as migrants continue to reel from the impacts of the pandemic. Migrants face  massive joblessness, widespread displacement, absence of sufficient aid and support, and aggravation of their existing vulnerabilities in the living and working condition of migrants. The post-pandemic scenario does not give much confidence to migrants as prevalent state narratives of recovery and building back better are still very much within the pre-pandemic development paradigm [and too often fail to factor migrants into the equation.

Further shrinking of civic space has also been observed under the pandemic. First we have seen heightened repression, extended lockdowns, movement control and militarisation. Second, design of engagement arenas for civil society and grassroots stakeholders is not sufficiently cognizant of the organisational and human realities on the ground and this makes opportunities for meaningful participation more difficult than before.

Amidst these conditions, grassroots migrants and advocates have persisted, endeavouring to ensure that the perspectives  and agendas of migrants are effectively articulated. In the lead up to the Regional Review of the GCM, CSOs participating in the ESCAP-initiated multi stakeholder consultations worked together to consolidate inputs from the ground, pop up the voice of grassroots stakeholders themselves, and encourage the state-led review process to engage with and uphold the positions and recommendations of CSOs. 

Since the review process concluded, we have organised various follow-up initiatives such as education, outreach, support to campaigns to make the GCM concrete, relatable, and digestible to migrants. Amidst all this, migrants have also continued with their advocacy campaigns to keep their issues from being sidelined. 

Last May 21, we organized with Bonigi Monitoring a  Virtual Migrants’ Echo Conference on the GCM, attended by 95 participants, mainly migrants, coming from more than 70 organisations. The conference made visible  that despite the broad reach of the multi-stakeholder consultations: (a) Not many migrants are aware of the GCM but once they know about it, they are interested and willing to participate; (b) there is a pressing need for consultations with migrants on the GCM at the national level; and (c) the challenge of meaningful migrant access to intergovernmental processes persists. 

Based on our experience of the GCM regional review process, our knowledge of  the existing situation and issues experienced by migrants, and with the goal  of full participation and empowerment of migrants as rights-holders and development actors in mind, we present the following recommendations relevant to GCM implementation and Agenda 2030. States and other stakeholders should, as appropriate:

1. Conduct a broad range of migrant-focused initiatives to help acquaint migrants with the GCM (eg, developing publicity and education materials in accessible forms such as video, infographics, surveys, consultations and migrant stories;

2. Initiate national level stakeholders’ consultations on the GCM and ensure a considerable percentage of participants are migrants. Such consultations should be done in origin countries, reaching out to returned migrants and families of migrants as well as in destination countries, where migrant organisations, trade unions working with migrants, and migrant-serving institutions and advocates can participate. Such consultations must ensure language justice – from translation of GCM documents and materials to the mother languages of migrants to interpretation during activities involving migrants;

3. Continue to support regional multi-stakeholder consultations on the GCM, which should address key thematic issues (e.g., debt bondage, detention, labor trafficking, education trafficking) or categories of migrants (e.g., seafarers, fishers, domestic workers, etc.);

4. Support CSO-led consultations and initiatives on the GCM that are underpinned by transparent, accountable and democratic processes, whether nationally, regionally or internationally. With 40% of the world’s migrant population in the Asia Pacific region, we have a rich opportunity to co-organise and support many multi-stakeholder consultations and initiatives on the GCM at national and regional levels in the lead up to the International Migration Review Forum; and

5. In relation to the High Level Political Forum, migrants’ voices in this process should likewise be ensured in multiple ways, ranging from their contributions in Voluntary National Reports of governments to shadow/spotlight reports migrant groups wish to submit.

To conclude my presentation, I wish to share with you quotes from several migrants who participated in  our Echo Conference following the GCM Regional Review process. In their words:

“The GCM is a vehicle for the struggle of migrants.” 

“While it is a non-legally binding instrument, it can be used to advance the migrants’ agenda.” 

And finally, Madam/Mr Chair, “In the end, grassroots migrants’ voices need to be at the forefront.”

Thank you very much.