Highlight of the Month: National Consultation on Global Compact for Migration
The global compact for migration will be the first, inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. In the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted in September 2016, the General Assembly decided to develop a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The General Assembly will hold an inter-governmental conference on international migration in 2018 with a view to adopting the global compact.
To support and contribute to that compact, high-level government officials and civil society representatives in Bangladesh gathered in Dhaka on 26 October 2017 for a National Consultation on how to ensure the global debate on the future of migration governance reflects Bangladesh’s interests, in particular with respect to migrants’ basic rights. Mr. Shahidul Haque, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh (GoB), talked about the need for the compact to be conceptualized as a ‘‘legal instrument comprising of laws, norms, mechanisms, provisions, and practices aimed at assisting states and other stakeholders in governing migration, ensuring rights of migrants and for the benefit of all.”