Preparedness for the Next Pandemic: Towards a Resilient Global Architecture on Borders and Health

Two years after COVID-19 halted cross-border mobility in its tracks, most countries had fully restarted migration and mobility. Sweeping border closures and travel bans had largely been phased out in favor of more targeted approaches, and many governments, travel operators, and ports of entry were lifting or loosening health-related restrictions. Yet the process of reopening was highly uneven, unequal, and uncoordinated. Inconsistent standards for testing and vaccination, as well as incompatible health credentialing systems, continued to confuse and burden travelers. Moreover, widespread inequalities in vaccine access and take-up hindered efforts to outpace the virus as it mutated, exacerbating inequities in who can move.

The International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) posed a timely opportunity to revisit the lessons of COVID-19, before the next variant arrives, including what costs and inequalities emerged in the pandemic era and what systems are needed to prepare for the next outbreak. Perhaps most importantly, it was a timely moment to move towards a global agreement on mobility-a more resilient architecture for borders and health. With the World Health Organization (WHO) efforts to negotiate a new pandemic treaty and revise the International Health Regulations, leadership was needed to put mobility on the agenda and build global consensus on mobility management in times of pandemics. This IMRF side event, featured the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, WHO Deputy Director General, and key national government stakeholders among others, who sought to foster greater international coordination over health and mobility and promote a set of principles that are clear, equitable, streamlined, and future-focused. 

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Speakers:

António Vitorino, Director General, International Organization for Migration

Zsuzsanna Jakab, Deputy Director-General, World Health Organization

Blas Nuñez-Neto, Acting Assistant Secretary, Border and Immigration Policy, Department of Homeland Security, United States

Carlos Bernardo Abad Santos, Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning, National Economic and Development Authority, Philippines

Justine Saunders, Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Department of Home Affairs, Australia

Lucas Gómez, Head of the Office for the Attention and Socioeconomic Integration of Migrants, Colombia

Charles Munyao, Secretary, National Coordination Mechanisms on Migration, Kenya

Justin Maeda, Principal Regional Collaborating Centres Coordinator, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Laurel Townhead, Representative (Human Rights & Refugees), Quaker United Nations Office

Moderator:

Andrew Selee, President, Migration Policy Institute
 

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