What are the GFMD Civil Society Days?
The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Civil Society Days are the yearly occasion for theMADE regional networks and Working Groups, in addition to a wide array of networks and civil society actors, to come together and discuss what they have been doing to advance the agenda for the protection of migrants’ rights and human development, and to formulate action plans and recommendations for governments to follow up on.
MADE and the GFMD Civil Society Days
Since 2014, the GFMD civil society activities have been coordinated by MADE. This includes the annual GFMD Civil Society Days, which are organised through MADE's Global Civil Society Coordinating Office, in coordination with an International Steering Committee.
Throughout the year, MADE expands opportunities for civil society to prepare for and follow up to the annual GFMD meetings through national and regional meetings and advocacy actions, to ensure that changes for migrants, migrants’ rights and human development are actually implemented on the ground.
More information
For more information on the GFMD and related civil society activities, read the GFMD Civil Society Days brochure (English | French | Spanish)
For an introduction to the GFMD and its components in general and structure and focus of the Civil Society Days, Common Space and Government Days 2017 in particular, listen to the webinar we hosted on 26 January 2017:
Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)
The Global Forum on Migration and Development is a series of activities throughout the year that culminate in a week-long programme of government and civil society meetings that have been taking place since 2007.
The Forum emerged from the first UN General Assembly High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in 2006, as a process outside of the UN system where policymakers and stakeholders from countries all over the world come together to discuss about migration and development.
To this day, it remains the only global mechanism available to discuss migration and development with the full range of actors involved in migration – from grassroots organisations all the way to national governments and international organizations.
On 21 October 2016, an event focusing on the process to develop a Global Compact on Migration was organized by the government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh and other governments expressed their determination to form and meet as a Geneva branch of the government “Friends of Migration” group that had been launched by Bangladesh, Benin, Mexico and Sweden in New York ahead of the 19 September UNGA High-level Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Speakers were Bangladesh, Mexico, Sweden, Francois Fouinat, representing the UN Special representative for International Migration Peter Sutherland, and representatives of the International Labour Organization, IOM, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees.
With this GFMD taking place just three months after the UNGA Summit, discussion in the Civil Society Days and Common Space will connect directly to the Summit’s New York Declaration, very much including the process to develop a Global Compact on Migration.
The Common Space of the GFMD that convenes all of the civil society delegates with all of the state participants for direct interaction is this year scheduled for Saturday, 10 December—International Human Rights Day. Common Space begins after lunch, immediately following the Opening Ceremony, in which a number of dignitaries will speak, including the civil society Chair of the CSD presenting civil society’s principal recommendations from the prior two days, and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh delivering a keynote speech.
