29 June 2018: Ahead of the sixth and final scheduled round of intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the co-facilitators from Switzerland and Mexico have circulated the third revised draft of the compact. In their letter accompanying the draft, the co-facilitators announce their intention to present a “final text” by 11 July, and conclude the negotiation process by the morning of 13 July.

The last round of negotiations will convene from 9-13 July 2018, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. It follows a series of thematic and regional consultations that took place from April to November 2017, a stocktaking meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in December 2017, and five rounds of intergovernmental negotiations that began in February 2018, as well as five multi-stakeholder hearings.

Per the co-facilitators’ letter, the first two days of the negotiations (9-10 July) will allow delegations to share comments on remaining issues in the global compact that merit clarifications, and there will be a final informal dialogue with stakeholders on 10 July. A “final text” will then be presented by the co-facilitators by 11 July in the evening, in order to finalize the negotiations by 13 July.

The co-facilitators also note that after concluding the negotiations, the agreed compact will be forwarded to the president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), which will transmit the text to the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the compact. The Conference is scheduled to take place in Marrakesh, Morocco, from 10-11 December 2018, and the UNGA would subsequently adopt the report of the Intergovernmental Conference.

As with the previous draft (the second revised draft, which was considered during the fifth round of negotiations in June), the third revised draft of the global compact comprises: a preamble; a section on ‘Our vision and guiding principles’; 23 objectives outlined under a section titled ‘Objectives and commitments’; and two final sections on implementation, and follow-up and review.

In its objective 10, Draft Rev 3 aims to “prevent, combat and eradicate” trafficking in persons in the context of international migration, instead of “prevent and combat trafficking,” as outlined in Draft Rev 2. It also notes the need to strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures “for appropriate screening, assessment and referral,” instead of “for appropriate determination and referral” as mentioned in Draft Rev 2.

The text requests the President of UNGA 74 to launch consultations on the modalities of the International Migration Review Forum.

In contrast with Draft Rev 2, Draft Rev 3 does not include reference to the principle of non-refoulement. In its section on ‘Follow-up and Review,” the third revised draft encourages all UN Member States to develop “as soon as practicable” ambitious national responses for the implementation of the Global Compact, and to conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national level. It notes that these reviews should draw on contributions from all relevant stakeholders, parliaments and local authorities, and should effectively inform the participation of UN Member States in the International Migration Review Forum and other relevant fora. The text also requests the president of the 74th session of the UNGA to launch and conclude “open, transparent and inclusive” intergovernmental consultations to determine the precise modalities and organizational aspects of the International Migration Review Forum, and calls on the UNGA 74 president to articulate how the regional reviews and other relevant processes will inform these fora.

The intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration are co-facilitated by Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland, and Juan José Gómez Camacho, Permanent Representative of Mexico. [Co-facilitators’ letter] [Global Compact Draft Rev 3] [Compact negotiations website] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on fifth round of negotiations] [All SDG Knowledge Hub coverage of migration compact process]