Roula Hamati, from the Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants in Lebanon, and William Gois, Regional Coordinator of Migrant Forum Asia talked with us about their impressions of this year’s Quito Summit and the relevance of the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) process. Both are long-standing participants in the GFMD and bring different experiences and views on the matter.
What is the relevance of the GFMD for the work of civil society organizations in your region?
[Roula Hamati] The GFMD is a very important space for civil society organizations because it provides access that sometimes might not be available at the national level. It gives an opportunity for people to interact with their governments, to discuss issues of mutual interest. I think it is a very good place to look into how we can move forward with migration and development issues and into a more transformative agenda.
For instance, two of the key issues chosen for the Civil Society Day this year — mixed migration flows and labor migration — are among the main issues in my region, the Middle East. Many people are moving because of wars or persecution, but when they get to a safe country, they may become vulnerable to exploitation, especially labor exploitation.
[William Gois] Thanks to the GFMD, spaces have opened up. It has been a process of trust-building among governments and also between our governments at the GFMD and civil society organizations. And I think this has been a primary vehicle for many of us to then go back to our countries and open up the space for dialogue. Thanks to this setting, we have been able to make some major breakthroughs in some countries in Asia, a region where access to justice, especially for migrant workers, is one of the most pressing issues right now.
How has the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration affected your work?
[WG] It has not affected our work in any way as such, except that at least now, we have a comprehensive framework of reference for the issues we’re working on. We’ll have to see how governments pick this up. Right now, the GCM seems to be exercising little traction, but we can always come back to it when the political moment is right. But it’s slow-going now at the government level and very slow at the UN level.
[RH] It’s early to say, but it certainly has been a very useful framework for civil society because it provides a 360 degrees approach to migration. For the Middle East, it is particularly important because it also has a more programmatic, operational approach. I believe it has provided civil society organizations with a fresh start to engage with their governments.
What is your take-away from this year’s GFMD Summit in Quito?
[RH] I think this Summit has faced a few challenges — of course it’s coming after a hugely important moment like the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration. The GFMD has been very successful in looking at practices and partnerships because that is the way forward to implement the Global Compact. I think the success of the GFMD lies in being able to continue the discussion: to bring the Global Compact down to the national level with good practices and partnerships.
[WG] The mechanism of the mayors. I think this is a new opportunity and it would be good to see how there can be greater integration between the mayor’s mechanism and the civil society one. A lot of the work that civil society organizations do on the ground is done at the level of local governments, so strengthening this collaborative work may help us advance the agenda at the national level as well.