Contributed by Tatcee Macabuag, Programme Coordinator, Migrant Forum in Asia; and Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, Assistant Director, Bar Council Malaysia; photos by Satha Selvan, Senior Administrative Assistant, Bar Council Malaysia
Background
The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was adopted by Member States at the High–Level Meeting on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants in September 2016. The Declaration launched a process of intergovernmental negotiations for a Global Compact on Refugees and a Global Compact for a safe, orderly and regular migration focused on upholding the human rights for all migrants and members of their families and refugees, irrespective of migration status. Both Compacts will be adopted in 2018 at an international conference on migration.
Civil society organisations around the world working on rights of migrants and refugees have organised various forums to ensure that the process and outcomes include and respect the human rights of migrating people.
One such forum is the Global Forum on Migration and Development (“GFMD”), held annually and hosted either by a migrant–receiving country or migrant–sending country.
In December 2016, the GFMD was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh wherein civil society organisations (“CSOs”) in Asia and the Middle East discussed governance of migration, and rights and justice in the context of migration and development during the Asia Civil Society Day (“ACSD”)1, which is part of the People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (“PGA”)2.
In addition, the discussion on mixed migration was made much more significant, with the collective input provided by the various groups that participated, which included refugee rights advocates, as well as discussion on pertinent issues surrounding mixed migration and gender.
To continue building the momentum from Dhaka and to ensure the continued collaboration between migrants and refugees rights advocates, there was a need for the following:
• A capacity–building training between migrants and refugees rights advocates;
• Fostering understanding and conceptual clarity on refugee issues among migrant groups, and vice versa; and
• A need for a united position on issues of rights of migrants and refugees with the focus of balancing the objectives of migrant–receiving countries and migrant–sending countries in preparation for the next GFMD in Germany themed “Towards a Global Social Contract on Migration and Development”.
The Training
To realise the needs above, a Regional Training on Understanding Mixed Migration and the Global Compact on Migration was held on 4 and 5 Apr 2017 in Kuala Lumpur. The event was co–organised by Migrant Forum in Asia, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, and hosted by both the Bar Council Migrants, Refugees and Immigration Affairs Committee, and Migration Working Group, Malaysia.
Forty participants, comprising migrants and refugees rights advocates from Malaysia and the region, gathered in Kuala Lumpur for those two days to achieve the following objectives in understanding mixed migration and the Global Compacts:
• To build conceptual clarity on both migrant and refugee issues — for migrant groups to have a better understanding of refugee issues; and to provide refugee groups with better understanding of migrant issues — as well as reflect on cross–cutting issues such as gender and human trafficking, child rights, racism and xenophobia; and
• To build a space for both migrants and refugees rights advocates to work together, and to identify spaces to articulate common advocacy messages and collectively strategise to feed into the preparation for the GFMD 2017 and other consultations on the Global Compacts.
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1 The ACSD is an independent space for civil society and movements in Asia to come together. It aims to provide a political platform for CSOs and trade unions from across Asia to discuss urgent and critical issues affecting migrant workers in the region, and to establish collective inputs to influence the GFMD and beyond. The ACSD brings together Asian regional networks working on migration and refugee issues.
2 The PGA is a broad civil society process bringing together migrant groups, academia, trade unions, faith–based groups and other civil societies, to engage the GFMD.