IOM will join UN System today – but without any rights-based mandate #UN4RefugeesMigrants

At todays UN High-Level Plenary meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants in New York, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will become a “related organization” of the United Nations. This begs the obvious question: What difference will it make? The answer seems to be: Foremost an official “seat at the table” for the organization – but, at least in the medium-term, no obvious move towards a clear rights-based mandate comparable to organizations which are full members of the United Nations system. The IOM council has stated so itself, by stressing that theirs is a “non-normative organization” – a term well worth pondering upon… Actually, scholars have identified a number of norms underlying the IOM such as

Migration and Democracy / Democratization: Publications, Website, Facebook-Group

 I have collected an overview of my publications on migration and democracy / democratization on a dedicated website and have created a corresponding facebook group. Please let me know if you have published something related to this topic and I will gladly share it on these sites! My most recent article on the topic is the book chapter ““Democracy on the Move? The Potential Link Between Circular Migration and Democratization.”

Here are the links:

Website:

http://www.migrationanddemocracy.com/

Facebook-Group – please join!

https://www.facebook.com/migrationanddemocracy/

Guest Contribution: Reports from the #WSFM / # FSMM in São Paulo

 

Earlier this month, the 7th edition of the World Social Forum of Migration (WSFM) took place in São Paulo. I was not able to attend, but award-winning blogger Rodrigo Borges Delfim has closely followed the process. The founder of the Portuguese-language blog MigraMundo has shared his impressions and kindly provided an English translation – You can find four of his reports below:

World Social Forum on Migrations 2016: A regional affair?

You might not have noticed it, but the World Social Forum on Migrations gathered this month in São Paulo, Brazil, for its 7^th meeting. According to the organizers, “3,600 militants and activists from 57 countries from all continents” came together at the University Zumbi from 7 to 10 July 2016. Still, from the outside this seemed to me a mostly regional meeting with limited attempts to connect to migrant communities globally. The declaration agreed upon by the participants has now been released and you can find it here:

#GFMD 2016 Civil Society Days online application has started – new selection process

The application process for the Civil Society Days (CSD) of the upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) has started and is open until 22 July. The CSDs will take place in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 8- 9 December, followed by a Common Space with the government representatives on 10 December. The proposed theme for the CSDs is “Time for Action: Doing rights-based governance of migration and development; in our communities and across borders”, while the overall theme of the 2016 GFMD is “Migration that works for Sustainable Development for All: Towards a Transformative Migration Agenda”. There has been a change regarding the selection of civil society delegates with the goal to “to decentralize and rationalize the process”:

Today is International #DomesticWorkersDay – 5 years after the convention

On June 16 2011, the ILO adopted Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers and its accompanying Recommendation 201. Since then, after a slow start progress has been made: 22 countries have ratified the convention, more than 30 have extended legislative protections to domestic workers. Still according to the ILO 90% of the estimated 67 million domestic workers do not enjoy effective social protections. Around 17 percent of domestic workers are migrants and migrants’ rights organizations are particularly active in advocacy and celebrations on International Domestic Workers Day:

Will the International Organization for #Migration ( #IOM ) move closer (in)to the United Nations system?

On September 19, the United Nations (UN) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) might sign a new relationship agreement. There are several scenarios regarding the content of this agreement, ranging from the IOM becoming a “UN-related organization” such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or the World Trade Organization (WTO) up to full inclusion into the UN system as a specialized agency such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Obviously, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is already an UN agency with a long-established profile on the labor-related aspects of migration, and the future mandate of and relationship between the two organizations would be, let’s say, interesting to observe. The driving force behind this development seems to be