Santiago – The Regional Consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean towards the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) took place last week (30-31/08) in Santiago, Chile. The event was co-hosted by the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and IOM, the UN Migration Agency.

The two-day consultation was the first of five regional consultations, which are part of the preparatory discussions to develop the GCM, an intergovernmental negotiation on all dimensions of international migration. As with previous consultations, the regional gathering in Santiago sought to discuss migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

The event brought together 45 international migration experts from Latin America and the Caribbean countries to discuss relevant migration topics in the region to provide inputs to governments for the negotiation phase of the GCM.

It also gathered representatives from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

During her opening remarks, IOM Deputy Director General Laura Thompson said that the Global Compact represents an invaluable opportunity for the international community to work on a common vision to ensure a well-managed migration governance, as well as to promote the positive effects that benefit migrants, governments and societies.

“The common vision includes protecting the human rights of migrants, facilitating a safe, regular and orderly migration, reducing the incidence of forced migration, and responding to the impacts of mobility caused by natural disasters or environmental reasons,” stressed Ambassador Thompson. 

Ambassador Thompson also underlined that Latin American and Caribbean countries have already contributed to the global debate on migration, ensuring the inclusion of the human rights of migrants in all the regional migration fora. The countries have also significantly contributed to the global migration governance through the adoption of new migration laws and policies.

“Notable practices include the Residence Agreement of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), the free transit instruments created by the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) and, more recently, some agreements on free mobility adopted by the Pacific Alliance,” she said.

Ambassador Thompson also highlighted the important role of the two existing Regional Consultative Processes (RCPs) in the region: The South American Conference on Migration (SACM) and the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM – Puebla Process).  

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the ECLAC, highlighted the importance of the regional consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean to provide a consensus view of migration governance, based on the principles of human rights of migrants. Bárcena also urged the Latin American and Caribbean countries to incorporate migration in their development agendas, especially the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Louise Arbour, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for International Migration, emphasized that migration has an overwhelmingly positive social, economic and cultural impact on countries of origin and destination, and is an empowering experience for millions of migrants and their families. [Watch video]

However, Arbour cautioned that while most of today’s 244 million international migrants move in a regular fashion, many are forced to move, live and work in the shadows, vulnerable to marginalization and abuse. Ensuring safe, orderly and regular migration must address the needs of these most vulnerable persons.

SRSG Arbour also stressed that principled and effective collaboration at the regional level is particularly key in this regard, since the migration policy of one country inevitably influences that of other countries. [Watch video]

She concluded by highlighting the need for leadership in both the political and public spheres, to end the current crisis of solidarity and to facilitate mobility in a safe, orderly and regular fashion.

Juan José Gómez Camacho, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN and Co-facilitator of the intergovernmental consultations and negotiations on the GCM, highlighted the importance of the regional consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean region as part of the preparation phase. “We need to negotiate a Global Compact based on evidence,” Gómez Camacho emphasized. [Watch video]

The two-day event was organized under six thematic sessions that include human rights of migrants, response to migration drivers including climate change and natural disasters, international cooperation and migration governance as well as migrants’ contribution to sustainable development.

The sessions also included topics such as trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, as well as irregular and regular migration and labour mobility.

The next regional consultation will take place in Beirut, Lebanon on 26-27 September and will be hosted by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) with the League of Arab States.
For more information, please contact Juliana Quintero at the IOM Regional Office in Buenos Aires, Tel. + (54) 11 32488134, Email: juquintero@iom.int