GFMD Working Group on Sustainable Development and International Migration

The current GFMD Working Group on Sustainable Development and International Migration (SD&IM) is an outcome of a progressive reflection of participating Member States that the GFMD should play an active role in the implementation, follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as in the implementation of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration (Global Compact, GCM).

Genesis – 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The GFMD has played a crucial role in promoting the contribution and recognition of the role of migrants in achieving the 2030 Agenda for inclusive growth and sustainable development. Following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, an Ad Hoc Working Group on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was created in February 2016 under the GFMD Chairmanship of Bangladesh, with the objective to “consider the best ways for the GFMD to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to contribute to the follow-up and review process.”

Renewed Mandate under the German-Moroccan Co-Chairmanship in 2017-2018

The GFMD Dhaka Summit reiterated the vital role of the Ad hoc WG on the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and extended its mandate for the period 2017-2018. As the global community prepared for the elaboration of a global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration (Global Compact on Migration), Member States agreed that the GFMD should play an active role not only in the implementation, follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda, but also in the elaboration of the GCM.

Upon the invitation of the ECOSOC President and under the GFMD 2017-2018 Co-Chairmanship of Germany and Morocco, the GFMD submitted the first GFMD Recommendations to the annual High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2017, followed by the GFMD Recommendations to the HLPF in 2018. In addition, the GFMD prepared a ten-year Thematic Recollection (2007-2017) as an input to the Inter-Governmental Consultations on the GCM held in Puerto Vallarta in December 2017.

The Working Group on Sustainable Development and International Migration, from 2019

With the adoption of the GCM in 2018, Member States affirmed the need for a continuing structure within the GFMD In 2019 to follow through both the 2030 Agenda and the GCM, amidst the rotating Chairmanship of the GFMD. Thus, under the Ecuadorian GFMD Chairmanship, the Working Group was recognized as no longer ad hoc, and renamed accordingly as the Working Group on Sustainable Development and International Migration. It was mandated to support the implementation, review and follow-up of international commitments agreed by GFMD participating Member States, including the migration-specific and migration-related goals and targets in the 2030 Agenda and the objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). In addition, the Working Group is mandated to review, assess, and further develop the recommendations and findings laid out in the report on the GFMD Ten Year Review (2018), in order to continue to reform and improve the GFMD going forward.

The Working Group continued to facilitate the GFMD’s contribution to the annual HLPF by delivering the GFMD Recommendations to the 2019 HLPF under the Ecuadorian GFMD Chairmanship, as well as the GFMD’s Focused Input to the 2020 HLPF under the UAE GFMD Chairmanship. In the absence of a co-chair for the Working Group in 2021-2022, the GFMD Focused Input to the 2021 HLPF was coordinated by the GFMD Troika and Steering Group and prepared with the support of IOM and UNDP. 

In 2023, during the French Chairmanship, the Working Group resumed its functioning, including the GFMD civil society mechanism among its co-chairs, and facilitated the preparation of the GFMD focused input to the 2023 HLPF through an inclusive process engaging also the GFMD business mechanism, mayors' mechanism and the Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP) as well as the Ad Hoc Working Group on Public Narratives on Migration and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Impacts of Covid-19 on Migrants, Migration and Development.

The Working Group operates on an open-ended basis, unless decided otherwise by the Steering Group, and its mandate is reaffirmed and if necessary revised at the beginning of each year.

Membership

Membership of the WG is on a voluntary basis, comprising between 12 and 15 members, representing a regional balance.

The current Members include Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France (Co-Chair), Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (Co-Chair) and the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism (Co-Chair).

Representatives of the GFMD Mechanisms, the UN Migration Network on Migration, International or Regional Organizations or any other expert may also be invited to attend the meetings on a need basis.

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