7 June 2019: The co-facilitators for consultations on the modalities and organizational aspects of the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) issued the zero draft of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution. The first consultation on the zero draft will take place on 11 June 2019, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, with further consultations planned for 20 and 26 June.
The IMRF is part of the Global Compact for Migration. The Forum seeks to serve as the “primary intergovernmental global platform” to discuss and share progress on the implementation of all aspects of the Compact, including as it relates to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Per the Compact, the Forum is conceived as a “repurposing” of a prior mechanism, the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, and will take place every four years beginning in 2022.
In February 2019, IMRF co-facilitators Agustin Santos Maraver (Spain) and Masud Bin Momen (Bangladesh) initiated consultations on the precise modalities and organizational aspects of the IMRF. In May 2019, they announced that they would meet with UN agencies, civil society organizations and other stakeholders involved in various aspects of migration, and noted the organization of an informal consultation on the IMRF with parliamentarians to solicit views on the Forum. The latter meeting was organized in collaboration with the UN Migration Network, for 28 May 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland.
On 7 June, the co-facilitators issued the zero draft to be discussed during consultations on 11 June. The text notes that the IMRF shall: take place during the “first semester” of 2022; be convened under the auspices of the UNGA and chaired by the UNGA President; last three days; and consist of a plenary divided into an opening session, a general debate and a closing session, and several parallel interactive multi-stakeholders’ roundtables. It states that the roundtables should: offer space for discussing the 23 objectives of the Global Compact on Migration with the aim of reviewing progress “at all levels;” include non-governmental stakeholders, among other actors; and result in a technical summary that should be presented by the co-chairs of the roundtables in the morning of the third day of the Forum. The draft also notes the organization of a policy debate during the afternoon of the third day, which would focus on implementation challenges and highlight linkages between the Global Compact on Migration and the 2030 Agenda.
On preparations, the zero draft notes that the UN Network on Migration should:
- Assist in regional reviews of the Global Compact’s implementation;
- Collect all inputs received from national, regional and global levels; and
- Develop a dedicated website featuring inputs submitted by Member States and other relevant stakeholders.
On participation, the draft invites Member States, observer States, intergovernmental organizations and entities that have observer status with the UNGA to be represented at the highest possible level, and outlines the importance of the “effective participation” of all relevant stakeholders.
On outcomes, the draft suggests the distribution of the technical summaries of the roundtables and the summary of the policy debate by the UNGA President within ten working days following the conclusion of the Forum. These summaries, it adds, shall serve as the basis for a brief and concise intergovernmentally agreed progress declaration, that “may be” taken into consideration by the HLPF. Other inputs to the declaration would include the biennial report of the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of the Compact.
On funding, the zero draft welcomes the establishment of the Start-Up Fund for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (MPTF) for initial financing of project-oriented solutions to support Member States’ efforts to implement the Compact, and calls for voluntary financial contributions to the Fund. [Zero draft resolution on the format and organizational aspects of the IMRF] [Consultations tentative timeline]