In December, the “migration week(s)” will bring U.N. member states, international organizations, migrant civil society and other stakeholders to Marrakech, Morocco. The major “official” events will be the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the 11th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), for which the application process has now started. But migrant civil society organisations will also organize their own parallel and counter-events. Once more, I have compiled an outlook to central events on migration governance from above as well as from below.
For your planning purposes, I have decided to list the events in chronological order – I may update this list once more information becomes available or provide more details on events such as the PGA or the Mayoral Forum in a separate post:
No date: Mayoral Mechanism
Starting with the mayoral Forum, nothing is confirmed yet. The last meeting took place before the 2017 GFMD in berlin, so there might be a follow-up of some sort in Marrakech.
(Read more about the Forum here:
https://gfmd2010.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/bridging-the-micro-and-the-macro-the-mayoral-forum-on-migration-and-development-an-interview-with-colleen-thouez-unitar/ )
3-4 December ??? GFMD Civil Society Days (CSD)
There has been some confusion on this years’ civil society days. No date was given in the call for applications that was issued this week. On the official GFMD website calendar , the dates for the CSDs is listed as 3-4 December, which would be in line with most of the previous GFMDs (except Berlin): 2 Civil Society Days first, then one day common space with government, then 2 days government meeting. On another account, though, the dates would be 4-6 December. I will try to clarify !
UPDATE: 3-4 December it is, with the common space then taking place on 5 December
No matter, the dates, the deadline for applications has been set: It is 31 August (there has been some extension for previous meeting, but better don’t bet on it…)
There have been some changes in the modes of application – now individuals / organizations as well as national, regional and thematic networks can apply. The maximum number of delegates is 250.
Get more info in the FAQs:
Click to access Concept%20and%20FAQs%20for%20participant%20selection%20process%20GFMD2018_EN.pdf
Applications for national, regional and thematic networks
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GFMD_EN_network
Applications for individuals/organisations
https://madenetwork.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=233fa9a0ed4257ad77ac77d14&id=0536550f11&e=f74e56f512
Plan to set some time aside for the application, since it includes questions about your organizations work, assessments of national migration policies etc.
5 – 7 December GFMD Government Days
These dates are undisputed. The remaining question is, when the common space bringing together government and civil society representatives will take place – December 5 or 6?
7-8 December Churches Witnessing With Migrants (CWWM9) / IAMR??
Over the past decade, the CWWM has become an established parallel event to the GFMD. In its own words, the CWWM “is an international tripartite network of grassroots migrants, migrant-serving groups and organizations, and varied religious and faith-based institutions dedicated to the proposition that all human beings have inherent, inviolable human dignity and protected human rights”.
The theme for the Morocco consultation will be “Towards an Infrastructure of Welcome and Solidarity”.
Check out their website:
http://nccphilippines.org/cwwm/
I have also written an article on counter-hegemonic processes such as the CWWM and the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) (no confirmed event / dates yet), you can find it here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14747731.2018.1472860?journalCode=rglo20
8-9 December: Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA)
So far, only the date for the PGA has been communicated to me. Unlike in previous years, where the PGA deliberations have fed into the GFMND civil society days, the PGA will thus take place after the GFMD (similar to Berlin). It will now be sandwiched between the GFMD and the Global Compact Conference, so it might be a good date for stocktaking and strategy formulation.
Expect more information to be upcoming – probably on this website:
http://peoplesglobalaction.org/calendar/2018-morroco-conference/
Here is a report from the Berlin PGA:
PGA opening in Berlin: A time to be excited or cautious? #MigrantRightsBerlin
10-11 December Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)
I have just written a blogpost on this event, which you can find here:
There are various application deadlines, some of which have passed already (for example, I I have received confirmation for my institution but probably will have to apply individually as well); on the other hand, if you are an NGO is in consultative status with ECOSOC, no accreditation is necessary.
Check the websites for more infos:
https://reg.unog.ch/event/23796/overview
https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/
The GFMD, Migration, Development and Human Rights 