A global opportunity we cannot afford to waste: kicking off the GFMG in Geneva

As it is well known, civil society (CS) has actively participated in all editions of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). Thanks to a committed advocacy effort, CS has gradually managed to be considered partners in most of the activities included in the official process of the GFMD, from providing inputs for the background papers , co-chairing the discussion round tables, and following up on the commitments of governments at the national and regional levels.

The recognition of CS as stakeholders has allowed for a much more free and substantive space for dialogue with other stakeholders, including not only governments, but also the private sector and local and regional governments. This enabled exchange of views that enriched all actors in relation to the actual conditions on the ground and trends that have characterized international migration in the last two decades. While gaining this status as a key stakeholder within the GFMD process has been a primary advocacy call by CS since the inception of the GFMD, CS has also always maintained that the GFMD should be “states-led, but not states-only” – maintaining the responsibility of governments to convene and lead such critical multi-stakeholder dialogues while incorporating a truly whole-of-society approach to it.

As it evolved, the GFMD began to represent a unique opportunity for a rich informal dialogue between CS representatives themselves, which favored identifying shared challenges across regions. It helped in documenting good practices in pushing for the respect of migrants rights and how CS could adopt new paths to obtain better results in their advocacy work.

Unfortunately, the 2023-2024 GFMD has substantially reduced opportunities for interaction and dialogue within the official GFMD program for CS with other stakeholders. This is big step back from previous GFMDs where CS was seen as a key stakeholder and provided with space for engagement. Because of this, and in an attempt to avoid squandering the opportunity to meet and exchange with CS representatives from all around the world, some of the key CS grassroots networks who have been engaging in the GFMD since its inception, have decided to organize a CS-led forum of a complementary nature to the GFMD, that will allow us to discuss further not only some of the thematic priorities within this GFMD, but also other pressing topics that we find extremely relevant and urgent to us and migrant communities around the world. The Grassroots Forum on Migration Governance (GFMG) aims to not only be an open space for dialogue and strategizing between and among CS from around the world, but also with states and other non-state stakeholders.

As such, the GFMG will definitely center around phenomena and trends that threaten the safety and well-being of migrants and their families, such as the criminalization of migration, the externalization of borders, the lack of alternative pathways for regular migration, the dramatic increase in the deaths of migrants along different migratory routes, as well as the normalization of anti-migrant narratives and practices in different destination and transit countries and regions. All these factors play a decisive role in limiting or neglecting the effective respect of the human and labor rights of migrants, another big challenge we have to address. The GFMG believe that it seems futile to be discussing other migration concerns and possibilities without addressing these fundamental challenges.

A CS-led forum like the GFMG, which can allow a free and lengthy dialogue of the really critical issues facing migrants, migrant families, and CS, is urgently necessary now more than ever. We conceive it as complementary to and even going beyond this GFMD, and one that allows a deeper and more accurate reflection of both the diversity and the multiple concerns migrants and other CS have to address in the day-to-day realities that we face across the regions and around the world.