Partners in Population and Development (PPD), an intergovernmental organization welcomes and supports the work of International Organization of Migration (IOM) as one of the largest and most important international organization in the area of migration. PPD encourages the normative mandate of IOM to be strengthened for the global south taking into account the interests of all involved countries and all affected people equally for effective global migration governance.

PPD strongly reinforces the Migration Strategy Group report on International Cooperation and Development, June 2017 recommendation on restructuring of leadership and staffing from the countries of the global south to fill the role of a global lead agency in the area of migration.

In order to achieve the vertical and horizontal policy coherence, there is a need to look at policy coherence at the level of partnerships and effectiveness of these partnerships that have failed to fulfill the expectations often oriented towards individual pilot projects according to the report.

South-South partnerships are important. For example, Migration Partnership Framework intending to be expanded currently with nine countries (five of which are PPD member countries Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan and Bangladesh) have underlined the lack of consultation and insufficient involvement of their institutions. PPD encourages spirit of partnerships, policy goals and policy processes to have greater commitment to normatively sound and action oriented institutional structures.

Ministers of health and population and development issues of 26 PPD member countries have urged for greater South-South Cooperation and create optimum partnerships between the North- South and South- South.

We support the work of UN-DESA and the potential of the suggestions given for the Global Compact on Migration. However, we have to remember the personal stories and the human face of migration. Talking about remittances, sometimes the migrant workers abroad are ‘ATM’ machines for their families sending money and until they go back home ‘in a box’. There should be a cognizance and promotion of presence of family member at home more valuable than a remittance received by family from the migrant family member abroad. PPD also recognizes and urges the inclusion of basic human right to health from the migration discourse in the global compact.

PPD concludes in support of harmonization of the work of parallel and overlapping institutions and reporting of concrete actions taken by member countries with regard to several discussion forums and how international community can help.

Thank you.

 

Delivered by Ms. Vibhu Garg, Counselor, PPD Geneva