September 18, 2006
Global Workers observed the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on Migration and Development, September 14-15. The two days was compromised of two basic components. An ongoing plenary occurred in the General Assembly where member states made speeches on the topic of migration and development. Over the afternoon of the 14th and the morning of the 15th, four roundtables occurred exploring various sub-topics. The roundtables were closed meetings but a side room with live video streams allowed others to observe the process. Approximately 200 people observed the roundtables and many less observed the plenary.
The need for “managed migration” was one of the common themes of the member states’ discourses. All countries agreed that migration is significant to their economic development, either due to the demand for migrant labor, or the dependence on the remittances from their migrants abroad. Many countries spoke out against irregular migration and how it threatened their security. A sense of uncontrollable migration was stressed by many countries. Although the majority focused on clamping down borders to stop it, a few countries offered a more comprehensive and thoughtful analysis. Argentina was notable in this regard. It stressed that restrictive migration laws was the cause of irregular migration. To remedy the situation of the one million unauthorized migrants in Argentina, the government recently initiated a regularization effort. Legalization and setting realistic immigration policies to meet labor demands was a groundbreaking but little discussed approach to addressing irregular migration.
Another interesting issue was the marginalization of the 1990 Migrant Worker Convention (MWC). Taking 14 years to enter into force, the Migrant Worker Convention has been the slowest ratified convention in UN history. The reasons why were apparent at the HLD. Although the developing nations are calling for immediate ratification, the developed countries have taken a strong stance against it. Canada forcefully articulated this point stating that it was “very unlikely” to ratify the convention. As an alternative, the representative supported the Secretary General’s suggestion to establish a Global Consultative Forum. But Canada preferred that this be a state-led initiative outside the UN system. No more international conventions are needed, stated the representative. The trend to move the global migration discussion away from the UN system was echoed by other developed nations.
The United States stood out as the one country that did not support a continuing international dialogue on migration. Taking a strong isolationist stance, the United State representative stated that the regional consultations were sufficient and that the United States would not participate in the proposed Global Consultative Forum. The United States predicted that the forum would not produce concrete results but rather be mired in overly generalized discussions. As Peter Sutherland, the Secretary General’s Special Representative on Migration noted, the United States position was unique and contrary to the rest of the world which agreed that they would benefit from a structured international dialogue.
Overall, the High-Level Dialogue was an important first step and a positive expression that the world recognizes that the current state of migration is unacceptable for all parties involved. Many common issues were identified and most countries agreed that it was important to continue addressing this issue globally since migration is indeed a global phenomena. Absent entirely from the discussion was the issue of portable justice. The interventions, however, were short, only 3 minutes in the round tables, so the lack of discussion may not be indicative of the countries’ positions on the issue. Global Workers will continue to follow the UN dialogue around migration—hopefully attending the Global Consultative Forum in Brussels in 2007—and continue to educate member states on the important of transnational access to justice for global workers.