The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM):
The Global Compact for Migration represents a historic opportunity to improve international cooperation on migration, and to strengthen the contributions of migrants and migration to sustainable development. Today, there are over 258 million migrants around the world living outside their country of birth. This figure is expected to grow as a result of a number of factors including overall population growth, increasing connectivity, trade, rising inequality, demographic imbalances and climate change.
Migration provides immense opportunity and benefits – for the migrants, host communities and communities of origin. However, when poorly regulated it can create significant challenges. These challenges include overwhelming social infrastructures with the unexpected arrival of large numbers of people and the deaths of migrants undertaking dangerous journeys.
In this context, following 18 months of consultation and negotiations, UN Member States have agreed to adopt a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (draft outcome document available in all official languages). It is the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions.
The Global Compact for Migration is non-legally binding. It is grounded in values of state sovereignty, responsibility-sharing, non-discrimination, and human rights, and recognizes that a cooperative approach is needed to optimize the overall benefits of migration, while addressing its risks and challenges for individuals and communities in countries of origin, transit and destination.
Objectives
The Global Compact for Migration comprises 23 objectives for better managing migration at local, national, regional and global levels. The Global Compact for Migration:
- aims to mitigate the adverse drivers and structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods in their countries of origin;
- intends to reduce the risks and vulnerabilities migrants face at different stages of migration by respecting, protecting and fulfilling their human rights and providing them with care and assistance;
- seeks to address the legitimate concerns of states and communities, while recognizing that societies are undergoing demographic, economic, social and environmental changes at different scales that may have implications for and result from migration;
- strives to create conducive conditions that enable all migrants to enrich our societies through their human, economic and social capacities, and thus facilitate their contributions to sustainable development at the local, national, regional and global levels.