4th Global Forum on Migration and Development, Mexico, 2010: Rights must be at the centre

05/11/2010
Press release
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On the eve of the fourth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), which will take place in Mexico, in Puerto Vallarta, from 8 to 11 November 2010, FIDH publishes 12 key principles that must inspire all migration policies in states of departure, transit and arrival.

The GFMD is the only inter-governmental forum that exists at the international level to discuss migration policies and practices. Yet, civil society has little access to discussions between states and the process remains relatively opaque. FIDH regrets that the GFMD does not provide more effective opportunities for dialogue between key actors (states, NGOs, trade unions, businesses etc.)

FIDH laments the fact that the human rights of migrants are not at the centre of debates. Even as we mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, one of the nine core UN human rights treaties, many states continue to resist inclusion of any explicit reference to the Convention within the GFMD process.

FIDH considers that discussions at the GFMD must be governed by a rights-based approach to international migration. The meeting of GFMD is an occasion for FIDH to recall the key principles, derived from existing international human rights law, that must form the basis of all discussions on migration.

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