(Opening statement delivered by Ambassador Teddy Locsin Jr., Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, at the Global Compact on Migration Conference in the Philippines, August 14-15, preparatory to its formal adoption in Morocco in December 2018.)
THE final text of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) has a dedicated separate objective, Objective 23, on international cooperation and global partnerships for safe, orderly and regular migration. Other Member States found this objective superfluous. But the African Group noted the importance of an enhanced framework on international cooperation for a comprehensive response to irregular migration. This is welcome development to ensure that no one, no country, no region, is left behind or avoids the moral responsibility to address migration.
Member States commit to support each other through enhanced international cooperation and to take joint action in addressing the challenges to countries attempting to follow the Global Compact. They commit to promote the mutually reinforcing connection between the Global Compact and international and legal policy frameworks by aligning the GCM with them, particularly the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
The GCM encourages Member States to improve collaboration in managing borders and in the treatment of people crossing them. It urges Member States to develop bilateral, regional and multilateral frameworks, including readmission agreements. This is to ensure that the return and readmission of migrants to their own country is safe, dignified and in full compliance with international human rights law, including the rights of the child. This is not as abstract as it sounds; the newly minted Soviet Union rendered stateless millions of Russians; hence the creation of Nansen passports, a tremendous success.
Cooperation on all levels should complement the whole-of-government/whole-of-society approach of the Global Compact. It should be noted that civil society and other stakeholders where consulted in the drafting, not least because civil society is often the first point of contact of migrants in transit and at their destinations—usually for tangible help when they have no one else to turn to, least of all governments hunting them down. This is a lack the GCM hopes to fill.
In this Panel, we hope to explore innovative ways to strengthen dialogue between origin, transit and destination countries; and enhance the participation of stakeholders in the Global Compact. Panelists are invited to present existing cooperation frameworks and concrete partnerships and initiatives between and among states and stakeholders.
