17 November 2017: UN Member States have agreed on modalities for the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. By the text (A/72/L.9), the Assembly would decide to hold the Conference in Morocco, from 10-11 December 2018.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Miroslav Lajcak submitted a draft resolution presenting the modalities following intergovernmental consultations, which concluded with a silence procedure ending on 16 November. Consultations were facilitated by Mexico and Switzerland.

If it adopts the draft resolution, the Assembly will reaffirm its decision that the Conference will result in the adoption of an intergovernmentally negotiated and agreed outcome, titled ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.’ The scope of the Compact, the text recalls, is defined in an annex to the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (A/RES/71/1). The text indicates that negotiations for the Compact will be concluded by July 2018, as previously agreed in resolution 71/280 on the modalities for the preparatory process.

The Conference will include eight consecutive plenary meetings and two dialogues, held in parallel with the plenary meetings. The dialogues will be interactive and multi-stakeholder, and will seek to “exemplify ways and means to support the implementation of the Global Compact.” The topics will be: ‘Promoting action on the commitments of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’; and ‘Partnerships and innovative initiatives for the way forward.’

The draft resolution will be brought to the UNGA for action once its programme budget implications (PBIs) have been reviewed by the UN Secretary-General, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), and the UNGA’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), as noted by Lajcak in his letter announcing consensus on the text.

The next step in the preparatory process towards the Conference is a three-day stocktaking meeting, from 4-6 December 2017, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to reflect on the consultations to date, and provide input for the forthcoming report of the UN Secretary-General. Intergovernmental negotiations on the Compact are expected to begin in January 2018.

In the modalities resolution on the preparatory process, agreed in April 2017, UN Member States anticipated that the intergovernmental conference would take place at UN Headquarters in New York immediately prior to the opening of the general debate of UNGA 73, in September 2018, “unless otherwise agreed.” In October 2017, Italy and Morocco expressed interest in hosting the Conference in their countries. The offers were discussed in informal consultations. [UNGA President’s Letter on Consensus, with Final Text] [Co-Facilitators’ Letter on Silence Procedure] [A/72/L.9] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Preparatory Process Modalities] [Refugees and Migrant Compacts Website] [SDG Knowledge Hub Coverage of Migration Compact and Conference]