Registration for Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights #PGA ends today

Things have changed… Not only will the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA) for the first time take place after the GFMD – unlike previous meetings, there will also be no (guaranteed) opportunity for on-site registration. Today thus marks the final deadline for online registration for the event that will be held under the theme of “Power, People, Community: Building A Migrants Rights Movement” from 3-4 July at the conference facilities of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Berlin. You can register here:

Today is International #DomesticWorkersDay – reports and demands from migrant domestic workers #IDWD2017

On June 16 2011, the ILO adopted Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers and its accompanying Recommendation 201. By now 24 countries have ratified the convention – 2 up from last year – , and a total of 70 countries have taken measures to adopt or reform law and policy. Still according to the ILO, 60 out of the estimated 67.1 million domestic workers do not enjoy effective social protections. Around 11.5 million are migrants and migrants’ rights organizations are particularly active in advocacy and celebrations on International Domestic Workers Day:

#PGA and #CWWM: More dates confirmed for civil society events surrounding Berlin #GFMD

The dates for two major civil society events have been confirmed which are – quite literally – surrounding this years’ Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Berlin: The 8^th International Consultation of the “Churches Witnessing with Migrants” (CWWM8) will be held from 25-27 June 2017. And the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA) will take place from 3-4 July 2017. This means one can now spend a full 10 days in Berlin attending migration-related events with the following schedule:

How many international #migrants, how many #refugees? It’s (not that) complicated…

..but how many forced migrants? That’s more complicated. There are 2 numbers everybody has in mind when talking about migrants and refugees: 244 million international migrants, and 65 million refugees and other “forcibly displaced persons”. But how do these numbers relate to each other, how do they overlap? That seems to be the source of confusion, as demonstrated by some ambiguity in the New York declaration and even outright mistakes (now corrected by removing all the numbers) in two recent official GFMD documents (i.e. the 2017 concept paper). In this post, written with Evalyn Tennant, Project Development Coordinator of the Global Coalition on Migration, we try to clarify these numbers:

Berlin #GFMD is taking shape – agenda, scheduling, application process

Details are emerging on the upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which will take place in just a little over four months in Berlin. For the first time, the Civil Society Days will start one day after the government meeting (June 28-30) and run from 29 June until 1 July . On Friday, 30 June the common space between government and civil society representatives will take place at the German Federal Foreign Office. The location for the Civil Society Days is still being discussed – and the same goes for the selection mechanism of delegates. More clarity has been reached on the central issues: Germany, who co-chairs the forum with Morocco, wants to focus on a “Global Social Contract on Migration and Development” and on strengthening the business mechanism within the Forum. But why is the Forum taking place so shortly after the 2017 GFMD in Dhaka, Bangladesh?

2017 #GFMD in Germany: Deutschsprachige Beiträge zu #Migration, #Entwicklung und #Demokratie

(With this years’ GFMD taking place in Berlin, I have compiled some of my German language ressources). Im Vergleich zur globalen Debatte wird der Zusammenhang von Migration und Entwicklung in Deutschland eher selten diskutiert.Diese Beobachtung gilt auch für globale Prozesse, Institutionen und Konventionen. Anlässlich des Globalen Forums für Migration und Entwicklung (GFMD), das vom 28. bis 30. Juni 2017 in Berlin stattfinden wird,  habe ich einige deutschsprachige Beiträge zum Thema zusammengestellt:

Today is #InternationalMigrantsDay : Compact instead of Convention? A Collection of #MigrantsDay ressources

Today is International Migrants Day, marking the 26th anniversary of the adoption of the “International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families” by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Since last year there has only been one additional ratification, bringing the total number up to a mere 49, still with no ratification by a major receiving country in sight. With the deliberations on the planned “global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration” dominating the agenda, this seems unlikely to change. At the recent GFMD in Bangladesh, the Head of the UN delegation Pierre Mayaduon made it very explicitly clear that the EU does and will not support the declaration and sees no need for it…

NOTE: I am shocked by the many hateful messages that are using the #migrantsday hashtag this year, in particular from the US – we have our work cut out for us in the age of Trump…

As in the past years, I have compiled some resources and Statements surrounding International Migrants Day: