IUSSP contributions to UN migration and refugee compacts

The International Population Conference in Cape Town will include some thirty sessions focusing on refugee and migration issues and as well as a plenary session on International Migration and an invited session organized by the UN Population Division, which will focus on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration (read below). Ellen Percy Kraly (Colgate University), who represented the IUSSP in preparations for the Summit on Refugees and Migrants (read previous article), invites IUSSP members to contribute their expertise on these topics in preparation of forthcoming UN activities. 

In adopting the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in September 2016, Member States of the United Nations agreed to develop a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The compact for migration will be described as “the first intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.” Separately, the General Assembly is expected to adopt a global compact on refugees in the fall of 2018.

In order to formally adopt the global migration compact, an intergovernmental conference will be convened in September 2018. It is expected that the conference will produce a programme of action that could, potentially, drive the global migration policy agenda for decades to come. (Compare with the Programme of Action adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, which continues to drive population policies, programmes, and research around the world.) 

During 2017, the General Assembly will convene six informal sessions to gather information on the following themes: (1) human rights of migrants; (2) regular and irregular migration; (3) migration governance; (4) migrant contributions to development; (5) drivers of migration, and (6) human trafficking and migrant smuggling. In recognition of the crucial contribution of the global research community to the preparations of the global migration compact, the President of the General Assembly will also convene several informal hearings with civil society, the private sector, academia and migrants over the course of the next 12 months. The IUSSP intends to actively contribute to the preparations of the global migration compact, as it did for the NY Declaration.

The discussion and analysis among governments of processes of human mobility can benefit greatly from the methods and materials of the population sciences. The professional community of demographers and other population scientists can contribute much needed evidence on international migration as well as creative perspectives on demographic data, measurement and estimation regarding both voluntary and forced migrations, including their causes and consequences at multiple geographic scales, and the experience and life course of individual migrants.  

Fortuitously, the preparations for the global conference coincide with the International Population Conference in Cape Town in October-November 2017. An invited session at the IPC focusing on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration is being organized by the UN Population Division. A critical objective of the session will be to finalize a statement by the IUSSP concerning priority needs for data and research on international migration, whether voluntary or forced, as a means of improving the information available on migration trends and migrant characteristics, and of promoting a better understanding of the causes and consequences of international migration. 

Holding consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the IUSSP is formally considered to be a stakeholder in all consultations related to UN programs and activities in the area of development. The 2017 International Population Conference in Cape Town provides an important opportunity for population researchers to contribute to what could potentially be a major milestone in global efforts to improve the governance of international migration in all its dimensions and to share more equitably the responsibility for assisting forced migrants and displaced populations throughout the world.

Members (and non-members) of the IUSSP are encouraged to participate in these and other activities of the organization concerning international migration, including refugees. 

Population scientists interested in contributing expertise to the development of a formal statement by the IUSSP concerning population data and research to promote evidence-based migration policies may contact John Wilmoth or Bela Hovy of the UN Population Division for further information. 

Those interested in developing IUSSP contributions to the various events, sessions and hearings taking place as part of the preparatory process for the migration compact or the refugee compact are invited to contact Ellen Kraly.