Global Coalition on Migration (GCM) Submission to DG Home Affairs Consultation: Debate on the future of Home Affairs policies: An open and safe Europe what next? Eight-Point-Five-Year Action Agenda 21 January 2014 The Global Coalition on Migration (GCM) was founded in 2011 as a coalition of global civil society stakeholders with a deep history and shared experience in collaborating on migration policy-setting on an international level. The GCM members represent regional and international networks of migrant associations, migrants rights organizations and advocates, trade unions, faith groups and academia, covering every region around the world, including 7 organizations based in Europe. The GCM was created out of the collaborations of its initial member organizations around the annual Global Forum on Migration & Development (GFMD) and corresponding civil society processes. The GCM represents a vital space where its members can collectively chart the best methods, strategies and tools to take action together. In the current international political climate where migration has received intense attention and government focus, global civil society movements have consistently stated the critical need to have a strong presence, collective voice, and unified vision to advocate for the best possible global governance and policy-making around migration. This includes regional agendas that relate and reflect the global realities upon which they are built. Members of the Global Coalition on Migration (GCM) welcome the opportunity to provide their input for the strategic guidelines for EU Home Affairs from 2015, and invite DG HOME to take into consideration the recommendations provided for within the Civil Society Proposal for a Negotiated Outcome in the Form of a Five-Year Action Plan emerging from the 2013 United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development which can be found in its full text at: http://hld2013.gcmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/global-civil-society- Submission-to-CM11-copy.pdf Background to the 5-Year Action Agenda In November and December 2012, members of the GCM, along with hundreds of other global civil society representatives, met in Mauritius at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and in Manila during the World Social Forum on Migration (WSFM). Out of these meetings emerged consensus on a seven-point, five-year Action Plan, to serve as the foundation of global civil society engagement in the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development (UNHLD) and GFMD processes over the next five years. This
action plan has since been signed onto by more than 100 major civil society organizations, networks, and trade unions committed to forwarding a rights-based agenda for migration governance at the international, regional, and national levels, and a critical eighth point has been incorporated to highlight the important contributions of diaspora communities. Between May and July 2013, 7 regional civil society consultations were held around the world, including a European civil society consultation in Athens, Greece on 5-6 June 2013, to further elaborate on the regional nuances and components of the 8 points in the Action Agenda, and to develop regional-specific agendas and proposals. About 300 civil society leaders and delegates from over 50 countries participated in these consultations, and the consolidated report of these processes can be found at: http://hld2013.gcmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/consolidated-report- Final1.pdf All of these were then further deliberated and finalized during the preparatory meetings for the Civil Society Interactive Hearings for the High Level Dialogue which took place on 15 July 2013. This broad global series of civil society consultations and preparatory activities can be found viewed at: http://hldcivilsociety.org/activities/ As can be seen, due to the depth and breadth of civil society consultation and preparation towards this Action Agenda, while by no means comprehensive, indicates the most inclusive, organized and unified vision that global civil society has been able to develop towards migration policy-making globally. It also provides a unprecedented set of guidance for synthesis with regional agendas, including for Europe. As such, the GCM members strongly urge the European Commission and other European Institutions to consider the enclosed Eight-Point, Five-Year Action Agenda as a framework for developing the strategic guidelines for EU Home Affairs as from 2015.
Addendum 1: 8-Point-5-Year Action Agenda Summary
Addendum 2: Member Organisations of the GCM: Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), Chair of the Council of Global Unions (CGU) Working Group on Migration based in Geneva, Switzerland Espacio Sin Fronteras (ESF) based in Sao Paulo, Brazil Global Migration Policy Associates (GMPA) based in Geneva, Switzerland International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) based in Geneva, Switzerland International Network on Migration and Development (INMD) based in Zacatecas, Mexico International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) based in Brussels, Belgium La Via Campesina (LVC) based in Jakarta, Indonesia Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) based in Manila, Philippines Migrants Rights International (MRI) based in Geneva, Switzerland National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities (NALACC) based in Chicago, USA National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR) based in Oakland, USA Pan-African Network in Defense of Migrants Rights (PANiDMR) based in Bamako, Mali Platform for the International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) based in Brussels, Belgium Transnational Migrant Platform (TMP) based in Amsterdam, Netherlands Women and Global Migration Working Group (WGMWG) based in New York, USA