Telebriefing
The 2014 Global Forum on Migration and Development: Setting the Agenda for International Cooperation
Multimedia Tabs
H.E. Eva Åkerman Börje, Ambassador, Secretariat for the Swedish Chairmanship of the Global Forum on Migration and Development
Gregory A. Maniatis, MPI Senior European Policy Fellow; Senior Advisor to Peter Sutherland, UN Special Representative for International Migration
Kathleen Newland, Director, MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development Program
On May 12-16, 2014, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) convenes for the seventh time, in Stockholm, opening what many participants believe to be a new chapter for the Global Forum and for the global debate on the impact of international migration on development. The seventh GFMD, hosted by the government of Sweden, can be expected to demonstrate that the Forum has become the central venue where governments meet to advance cooperation on common concerns surrounding migration—not only with each other but also with civil society and the private sector. The agenda-setting and coalition-building role of the GFMD is evident in the topics that have risen to the top of the policy agenda internationally, in part as a result of repeated discussions at the GFMD: diaspora engagement, international recruitment, protection and assistance to migrants caught up in crisis situations, improving policy coherence through mainstreaming migration in development policy, and many more.
The October 2013 High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development (HLD) at the United Nations, notably, did not call for any new structures to address international migration, but declared the intention of “improving the performance of existing institutions and frameworks,” and acknowledged the value of the GFMD. The two HLDs (in 2006 and 2013) and the GFMDs can be seen as part of a process that is now facing one of its greatest challenges: making sure that the essential role of international migration in promoting development is recognized in the post-2015 United Nations development agenda, which will set development priorities for the next 15 years and beyond.
This call focuses on the 2014 GFMD: its agenda, the critical discussions that will take place in its margins, the policy areas that seem ripe for action, and what impact the GFMD discussions will have on the post-2015 development agenda.
Participants in the call are welcome to submit written questions to the presenters in advance or during the conversation by emailing [email protected] or tweeting to #MPIGFMDcall