23 November 2017
Concept Note Outlines Next Steps towards Migration Compact
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
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The preparatory (stocktaking) meeting of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration will convene from 4-6 December, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Delegations and other stakeholders are expected to jointly shape a vision for the global compact, and inform the co-facilitators’ zero draft of the global compact.

The concept note includes guidance for the stocktaking meeting and an overview of messages conveyed during the consultation phase.

20 November 2017: UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Miroslav Lajčák has issued the concept note for the Puerto Vallarta stocktaking meeting on migration, providing guidance and reflections from the co-facilitators. The document also contains an overview of the first phase of the preparatory process, which recently concluded.

The preparatory process towards the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration was mandated in Annex II of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. It is co-facilitated by Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, Permanent Representative of Mexico, and Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland. The process is composed of three phases. Phase 1 (consultation) took place from April to November 2017, and included six informal thematic sessions, five regional consultations, seven regional civil society consultations and several national consultations.

Phase II (stocktaking) seeks to assess the inputs received during the consultation phase, and inform the process going forward. As part of Phase II, the preparatory (stocktaking) meeting in Mexico provides a platform for delegations and other stakeholders to jointly shape a vision for the global compact. The stocktaking meeting will convene from 4-6 December 2017, in Puerto Vallarta. It is expected to result in a Chair’s summary of the meeting.

Phase II also includes the issuing of a report of the UN Secretary-General, with concrete recommendations for the global compact. These will inform the co-facilitators’ zero draft of the global compact, which will mark the beginning of phase III (negotiations). The intergovernmental negotiations are scheduled to start in February 2018 and conclude in July 2018, and should take place at UN Headquarters in New York, US.

The concept note, issued on 20 November, summarizes the consultations that took place during phase I. It reports high attendance by UN Member States and stakeholders throughout the consultation process, and the submission of 254 written contributions, and includes graphs showing levels of engagement in the consultations. It states that UN Member States discussed and identified overarching frameworks and principles to guide the global compact, such as: state sovereignty and international cooperation; an approach that is human rights-based, multi-stakeholder, and migrant-centered; and the need for the global compact to be gender-aware, sensitive, responsive, comprehensive and holistic.

On thematic highlights from phase 1, the concept notes indicates that: human rights are universal and apply to all migrants; addressing the needs of migrants in vulnerable situations is a priority; migration should be a choice and not a necessity; effective global governance is key to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration; human mobility is an essential component of economic and social development everywhere; and diaspora communities are essential to bring human experience and knowledge to the centre of the migration process. It also notes that: countering human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery, including forced labour, are key; and migration can be a factor to achieve the SDGs, specifically on poverty reduction, health, education, gender equality, climate change and citizenship.

According to the concept note, the stocktaking meeting should take stock of phase I, and include an IDEA LAB session to stimulate analysis with innovative initiatives, ideas, visions and concrete objectives. Participants should deliberate “from six dimensions,” or action groups: human dimensions (action group 1); community dimensions (action group 2); local and sub-national dimensions (action group 3); national dimensions (action group 4); regional dimensions (action group 5); and global dimensions (action group 6). The UNGA President announced the moderators and rapporteurs for the six “action groups” of the preparatory meeting in a letter accompanying the concept note. The concept note indicates that on the last day of the stocktaking meeting, participants should: report on the action groups; present concrete proposals of commitments and means of implementation; and discuss follow-up and review of the global compact, and overarching means of implementation such as partnerships, capacity-building, financing, data.

The intergovernmental conference to adopt the global compact should take place from 23-24 September 2018, at the UN Headquarters in New York immediately prior to the opening of the general debate of the 73rd session of the UNGA. [Concept Note of the Preparatory (Stocktaking) Meeting] [Preparatory Process Webpage] [SDG Knowledge Hub Coverage of Compact Preparations]


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