On 19 and 20 February, the GFMD community gathered in Geneva for the 2nd Preparatory Meeting dedicated to the exchange of policies and practices. Civil society’s contributions went beyond discussing specific policies or practices; we used the opportunity to anchor policies and practices to local, national, and regional contexts and highlighted the need to look at the elements contributing to a policy’s effectiveness and success.
The 2nd Preparatory Meeting took place amid growing challenges faced by migrants worldwide, as well as within the migration and humanitarian sectors. For civil society, it was essential to acknowledge this reality in each intervention and urge the entire GFMD community to use the GFMD as a platform for dialogue on current issues. Civil society advocated for multi-stakeholder dialogue spaces, such as the GFMD, to be flexible in addressing pressing issues and bringing them to the forefront.
Moreover, during this Meeting, Colombia, the Chair of the 2024-2025 GFMD process, announced that the 15th GFMD Summit will take place from 9 to 13 June, with Preparatory Days on 9 and 10 June in Barranquilla, Colombia.
As the New Year kicked off, the GFMD Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) ramped up its Civil Society Preparatory Process, known as ‘Sociedad Civil en Rumbo a Colombia’, providing opportunities for civil society worldwide to collectivise and shape advocacy messages in anticipation of the 2nd GFMD Preparatory Meeting. While civil society activities are self-organised and coordinated by the GFMD CSM, each activity contributes to the official programme of the GFMD Chair, based on the Chair’s programme ‘Regular Migration, Labour Mobility and Human Rights: Pillars of Development and Well-Being of Societies’. The Civil Society preparatory process creates invaluable opportunities for grassroots organisations, migrant-led and diaspora organisations, as well as trade unions to engage in the process.
On 29 and 30 January, the GFMD CSM hosted its second round of Thematic Dialogues (TDs), focusing on discussions about the exchange of policies and practices, which was a central theme for the 2nd Preparatory Meeting. Over 400 representatives from various regions participated in these dialogues, sharing their expertise on what constitutes effective migration policies and practices.
One central point emerged: the success of policies and practices is not a one-size-fits-all approach— and depends heavily on local contexts, design, and implementation. While exchanging policies and practices is valuable, especially when seeking to identify patterns and instances of successful protection and services, we must critically assess how these policies impact migrants and their communities, and reflect on:
- How can we ensure that migration policies do not merely exist on paper but genuinely uphold human rights, safeguard international law, and protect labour standards?
- How can we use the GFMD as a space where these urgent issues are addressed, and where our collective voices drive meaningful change?
In response, and drawing from grassroots and global experiences, global civil society came together to identify the essential elements of effective policies, ensuring that migration governance is not only well-intended but also rights-based, people-centred, and impactful in the areas that matter most.
During the TDs, 11 cross-cutting overarching elements of a successful policy/practice were identified and consolidated into a Civil Society Advocacy Brief.
The GFMD CSM at the Friends of the Forum: a Call to Leverage the GFMD and Rise to the Challenges of Our Time
The GFMD 2nd Preparatory Meeting in Geneva, started off with the Steering Group (SG) and Friends of the Forum (FoF), followed by Roundtable Consultations dedicated to substantive discussions on the thematic priorities set by the Chair.
The GFMD CSM, the Business Mechanism, the Mayors Mechanism as well as the Youth Stakeholder Platform shared updates during both the SG and FoF meetings. This time, in line with the focus on exchanging policies and practices, the Mechanisms and Youth were invited to present promising policies and practices.
The Civil Society Mechanism, honouring the insights from the Thematic Dialogues, emphasised the common elements of successful policies. Stéphane Jaquemet, the Director of Policy and Chief Operations Officer at ICMC—the organisation housing the GFMD CSM—observed that “collecting promising policies and practices has sometimes lacked a proper methodology and, above all, what we would call quality control.” With this in mind, “it is essential to consider the elements that make a policy or a practice effective and to ensure that impact is measured through evaluation by migrant and diaspora communities themselves.”
In this context, the CSM’s called upon the GFMD community to leverage the GFMD as a platform that “rises to the challenges of our time.” Elana Wong, the Coordinator of the GFMD CSM, underscored that:
“This space is not something that we take for granted. In the past months, we have witnessed an increasingly hostile landscape for migrants and their communities, as well as international development and human rights as a whole. We have seen the increasing normalisation of rapid mass deportations, the dismissal of international legal obligations, and narratives criminalising migrants and even diversity in itself. Make no mistake, we are seeing threats to the very values of solidarity, human rights, and international cooperation. It is more pressing than ever that we have opportunities for open dialogue, like these provided by the GFMD, to ensure that communities and migrants are not left behind.”
The GFMD remains a crucial space for multi-stakeholder dialogue among Member States, local governments, civil society, youth, and the private sector. It is more pressing than ever that we come together to build solidarity and continue cooperation to uphold the rights of migrants.
Insights into the Roundtable Consultations
Just like the first Roundtable Consultations that took place in November last year, these consultations adhere to Chatham House Rules and involve small, multi-stakeholder group discussions. In this second round, the Roundtable Co-chairs showcased policies and practices through a brief video, intended as inspirational examples. Participants were then invited to engage in group discussions based on guiding questions regarding the replicability of these practices, similar policies, and broader considerations related to the presented policies and practices.
The key messages identified during the Thematic Dialogues were brought into the Roundtable Consultations by nine civil society delegates from five regions:
- Genevieve Gencianos, Public Services International (PSI)
- Helena Olea, Alianza Americas
- Loise Au, Pacific Migration Platform
- Marie Lobjoy, Secours Catholique Caritas France
- Martha Salazar, Wo-Mi, WIMN and Diplomacia Feminista por la Paz
- Paola Cammilli, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
- Rana Refahi, International Detention Coalition (IDC)
- Sam Reid, Migrant Help UK
- Stella Opoku-Owusu, AFFORD UK
The delegation’s strategic approach aimed to ensure that civil society contributed key insights to the Advocacy Paper during group discussions. Each discussion was framed within the broader context of human rights and political issues, ensuring relevance to the real challenges faced by migrants on the ground.
Next Steps
With the 15th GFMD Summit approaching in June, the GFMD CSM is finalising its activities and beginning the nomination process for the civil society delegation. Save the date for the Global Civil Society Debrief on Monday, 24 March, at 9 AM CET and 5 PM CET. During this session, we will review the steps of the “Sociedad Civil En Rumbo a Colombia” and share details about the delegation nomination process.
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