Speaking at the opening of the Global Migration Group (GMG) meeting in London on Wednesday,2nd May the two co-chairs of the Group, IOM Director General, William Lacy Swing and FAO Director General, José Graziano de Silva, highlighted the importance of the current negotiations of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and of the Global Compact on Refugees, due to be completed later this year.
The GMG is an inter-agency group comprising 22 UN agencies working on migration issues. It is co-chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2018, and is providing technical support to the intergovernmental negotiations taking place in New York expected to lead to the adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration by December 2018.
DG Swing said: “This is a period of great promise, but also uncertainty. The UN family, working in close partnership with each other, must be ready to support governments and relevant stakeholders at all levels in implementing the outcome of the Global Compact negotiations itself in the coming years.”
The Group discussed ways in which they can help ensure that communication on migration increases understanding, counters xenophobia and ensures a more balanced picture of migration, to give space to governments to develop fact-based migration policies.
