29 April 2014: The Dhaka Global Experts Meeting on Migration resulted in recommendations on integrating migration and migration-related issues into the post-2015 development agenda and ongoing deliberations of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG), according the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Hosted by the Governments of Bangladesh and Switzerland, the meeting took place on 28-29 April 2014, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The experts’ recommendations aim to: make migration a more significant and systematic variable in development planning; channel additional attention and resources toward addressing gaps in data and capacities; and positively affect public perceptions of migrants as individuals “seeking out opportunities to contribute, and in most cases doing just that.”

The recommendations include: strengthening migration governance to achieve a balanced, cooperative and equitable system that is safe, fair, well-governed and more beneficial for all, that is culturally responsive, that promotes the participation of all migrants in decision-making processes that concern them; promoting full and productive employment and decent jobs in both countries of destination and origin, and non-discrimination in the work place; reducing the transfer costs of remittances; mitigating “brain drain”; facilitating mobility of talents; and deepening work within regional cooperative mechanisms on migration towards facilitating easier mobility of people, especially migrant workers.

The recommendations will be discussed at the forthcoming Seventh Forum Meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), which will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on 14-16 May 2014. [UNITAR Press Release] [Recommendations from Global Experts Meeting]