By
Grace Baey
"We
have come here for change… to humanise our societies." This
call to action from George Joseph, co-Chair of the 2012 Civil Society Days of
the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), marked the guiding
principle of this year's theme on "Operationalising Protection and Human
Development in International Migration".
Hosted
for the first time in Africa, over 140 representatives from civil society
organisations around the world gathered together on the beautiful island of
Mauritius to put their hands to the plough, focused on translating
recommendations made from prior GFMD meetings into practical benchmarks and
strategies to be taken up at the 2013 UN High Level Dialogue (HLD) on
International Migration and Development, as well as the post-2015 development
agenda.
The
opening address, delivered by Ali Mansoor, Financial Secretary of the
Government of Mauritius and Chair-in-Office for the 2012 GFMD, emphasised what
eventually became the dominant premise of our conversations: "Be
pragmatic, and strive for workable solutions, not mere ideals."
Amidst
the cautionary undertone of his speech, he stressed the need to "tread
carefully the issue of communications on [matters pertaining to]
migration—where emotions hit the core of reason." "Good intentions
are not enough," he said. "You need to come out of the dry rock of
principle so that we can build a bridge of communication between civil society
and governments."
It
was interesting to note the mirror through which both parties viewed
themselves: On the one hand, civil society delegates were gathered precisely
with the intention of taking issues concerning the everyday realities and
struggles of migrants up to the high-level table of intergovernmental
discourse. On the other, the persistent appeal on stage amongst state actors
was for civil society to ground their high-minded ideals with pragmatic and
implementable strategies through which to address real issues concerning
migration. Thus the petition from both ends was: Come down!
Wherein
lies the common ground?
The
organising committee offered one clue card: Benchmarks.
To
achieve this, the bulk of the two-day agenda was focused on three working
sessions surrounding the themes of "Labour", "Development"
and "Protection":
- Operationalising a Rights-based Approach to Labour
Mobility, Markets, and Matching;
- Operationalising Human Development in International
Migration; and
- Operationalising the Protection of Migrants and their
Families.
Thomas
Stelzer, UN Assistant Secretary General for the Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (UN DESA), noted in his plenary speech that these working
session themes paralleled those envisioned for the 2013 HLD, and so the
outcomes of our deliberations would channel seamlessly into these dialogues.
"Think
strategically," he urged. "After 6 years of talk, its time to come to
action."
Grace Baey is the Communications Officer for the Asia Research
Institute at the National University of Singapore, one of the core partners
within the Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium. Grace was
attending the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Civil Society
Days 2012 supported by the Migrating out of Poverty RPC.
