Migration Compact is the first, globally negotiated, cooperative framework to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration.

December 10, 2018—Marrakech, Morocco – Canada believes that effective international cooperation is essential in order to address common challenges as well as harness the benefits of global migration.

Today, Canada announced it adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), the first global framework on all aspects of international migration. The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, made the announcement at the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Marrakech, Morocco.

The GCM acknowledges the serious challenges that irregular migration poses, while emphasizing the positive contributions of migrants, and the benefits of regular pathways and well-managed migration systems. Migrant and refugee flows are a growing phenomenon around the world. According to the United Nations, there are currently about 258 million people on the move. Of these, 68.5 million are forcibly displaced people – including refugees and asylum seekers – who are forced to flee their homes in search of new ones due to violence, discrimination and war.

The Compact sets out 23 objectives, each focusing on one aspect of migration. Participating states are not expected to implement each action, but to view them as examples of best practices on how to achieve the objectives. It emphasizes state sovereignty as a guiding principle and that it is a state’s sovereign right to control its own borders.

Canada has been actively engaged in the development of the GCM. This includes the majority of the almost 200 action items, which reflect Canadian practices and are aligned with the compact’s objectives and commitments. Following more than a year of negotiations, this is an important milestone and represents the first multilateral framework for the global response to migration.

Quick facts

• In September 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. That Declaration launched separate processes to create 2 non-legally binding Global Compacts: the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees.
• Canada’s engagement on the GCM has been co-led by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Global Affairs Canada.
  
• The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow and was estimated at 258 million in 2017. This constitutes a 49 percent increase compared to 2000.

Backgrounder

In response to the Syria refugee crisis and increasing movements of refugees and migrants, the UN General Assembly in 2016 adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. That declaration launched separate processes to create 2 non-binding international agreements: one for refugees (Global Compact on Refugees) and one for migrants (the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration).

The number of international migrants continues to grow and was estimated at 258 million worldwide in 2017, a 49% increase compared to 2000. International migrants represent 3.3% of the world’s total population. Most international migration is conducted through regular channels without incident.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) was crafted based on a year of thematic, regional and multi-stakeholder discussions covering all aspects of migration, followed by 6 rounds of intergovernmental negotiations in New York. The text addresses a wide range of issues, sectors, actors and means of cooperation at global, regional, national and sub-national levels. It seeks to reconcile tensions underlying international migration, including national security concerns, human security, dignity and rights.

Considered a historic achievement and the first globally negotiated cooperative framework to cover all aspects of migration, the GCM aims to improve cooperation on international migration in order to ‘make migration work for all’. It draws attention to the challenges that irregular migration poses, while also emphasizing the positive contributions of migrants, and the benefits of regular pathways and well-managed migration systems.

The Compact sets out 23 objectives, each focusing on one aspect of migration. Each of the objectives is supported by a list of best practices that states can draw from to achieve the GCM’s objectives. The text includes mechanisms for follow-up, review and implementation that will increase migration’s visibility in regional and UN forums. It also endorses the creation of a UN Network on Migration coordinated by the International Organization for Migration.

Canada played an active role in the process to develop the GCM and worked closely and constructively with traditional and non-traditional partners to reach agreement on these important and complex issues. The successful negotiation of the GCM in the current global climate related to migration and sovereignty underscores the value of multilateral dialogue on critical global issues and the role the UN can play in supporting a rules-based international system.

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