UN experts call for vision and leadership in the process to develop a Global Compact on Migration

In a news release dated 24 October 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, and the Chair of the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Jose S. Brillantes, called on UN member states to develop long-term strategies and policies to facilitate rather than restrict migration. Referring to the negotiated, formal outcome of the UNGA High-level Summit on Refugees and Migrants - the New York Declaration – including the commitment to develop a Global Compact on Migration, Mr. Crépeau commented that “emulating the SDG process, the Global Compact could set up an ‘Agenda 2033 for Facilitating Human Mobility’, outlining a human-rights-based long term vision and setting out goals, targets and indicators for all member states. Such a concrete outcome would add meaning and action to the rhetoric of 19 September’s UN High Level Summit on large movements of refugees and migrants”.