Grassroots Migrants and Refugees Forum: Health, Aid, Job, Justice Now!
On 15 May 2022 in New York, USA, International Migrants Alliance (IMA) together with Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development (APWLD) organized the Grassroots Migrants and Refugees Forum (GMRF).
The GMRF took the theme of “Health, Aid, Job, Justice: Migrants under the Pandemic and Neoliberalism”, aim to gather migrants and CSOs to discuss developments in the situations of migrants and refugees across the globe, unite on analysis and strategies for campaigns, and elevate the discussion beyond the GCM and point the systemic problem of current migration.
The GMRF was attended by around 100 migrants, refugees, advocates and CSOs. During the GMRF, four (4) workshops were conducted. The workshops discuss specific issues namely (1) rights to health, employment, and livelihood, (2) climate, disasters, and displacement, (3) borders, detention and the undocumented, (4) women and migration. A march and program in front of the UN Headquarters concluded the GRMF.
With the unity from the GMRF, IMA delegates attended the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) that happened on 17-20 May 2022 at UN Headquarters in New York, USA.
During the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue, various migrant leaders and advocates from the IMA delegation gave interventions. They were Eni Lestari, Rey Asis, Anisur Khan, Mandeep Bela, Antonio Arizaga, Karsiwen, Mervin Toquero, Joanna Concepcion, Ka Mei Lau, among others.
Two (2) side events were also organized. The first side event was “By Migrants, For Migrants: Advocating for migrants’ meaningful participation in IMRF and the GCM processes”, held on May 17 and organised by the APMM, APWLD and Quaker UN Office. The second side event was “Meeting Migrants’ Information and Communication Needs: Grassroots Experiences from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East”, held on May 20 and organized by APMM and WACC. Other side events participated in by the IMA delegation were those organized by the Philippine government, Indonesian government, women groups, church groups, etc.
During the side event “By Migrants, For Migrants: Advocating for migrants’ meaningful participation in IMRF and the GCM processes”, which held on May 17, the participants from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Philippines submitted their Migrants’ Spotlight Reports to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants. They also made the submission to the representatives of their respective governments in the IMRF.
Aside from that, IMA delegates also lobbied the UN Network on Migration to acknowledge and provide space for migrants to speak and make interventions during the official meeting of the IMRF. Only one from the delegation (APMM) was able to make an intervention.
However, one of the key messages put forward by the delegation, Nothing About Migrants, Without Migrants, was carried and echoed by the UN IOM Director General during his opening speech.
The IMA delegation released a Collective Statement to reflect their sentiments and reflections on the IMRF, its contents and the challenge to the UN Network on Migration and governments to concretely realize the meaningful participation of migrants in the GCM process.
