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Berne Initiative
Type: Global Process on Migration
Formal association with regional or multi-stakeholder organization: None
Established: 2001
Objectives
Launched by the Swiss government in 2001, the Bern Initiative was a state-owned consultation mechanism that aimed to achieve better migration management at a regional and global level through increased cooperation between states. It contributed to a better understanding of a wide range of migration issues and improved constructive dialogue between states.
The main outcome of the Berne Initiative process was the development of the International Agenda for Migration Management (IAMM) to support actors in migration governance to develop effective national migration governance structures, as well as to foster intergovernmental cooperation in the area of migration management. The underlying principle of the IAMM is that migration is an essential feature of today's life and that all states have a common challenge in finding ways to manage it more effectively - so it is safe, orderly and beneficial for migrants and societies. It is the first attempt by governments to comprehensively cover all important aspects of migration at the international level.
While the Berne Initiative process was concluded in 2004 with the finalization of the IAMM, the process remains a major stepping stone in the area of international cooperation on migration and paved the way for platforms to discuss global migration issues such as the 2006 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development and the Global Forum on Migration and Development.
Thematic Focus
The Berne initiative had as its areas of focus all major aspects of migration at the international level. These include:
- human rights of migrants;
- labour migration;
- integration;
- irregular migration;
- trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling;
- trade and health issues;
- the return of migrants;
- migration and development.
Chairing Country
Chair: Switzerland was the Chair of the Berne Initiative.
Steering Group
The Bern Initiative was led by a Steering Group which comprised of representatives from UNHCR, GCIM, ICMPD, IGC, IMP, ILO, the Justice and Home Affairs Directorate of the European Commission, as well as the Swedish Government.
Secretariat
IOM’s Migration Policy and Research Department served as secretariat for the Berne Initiative.
- Members
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Member States [ 121 Participants to the Consultations]
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Congo (Republic of)
- Costa Rica
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominican Republic
- DRC Congo
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hong Kong SAR China
- Hungary
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kyrgysztan
- Lao PDR
- Liberia
- Libya
- Lithuania
- Macao SRA China
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Netherlands, The
- Nicaragua
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Republic of Korea
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Samoa
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Switzerland
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Venezuela
- Viet Nam
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Member Organizations
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Global Commission on International Migration
- International Centre for Migration Policy Development
- Intergovernmental consultations on migration, asylum and refugees
- International Migration Policy Programme
- International Labour Organisation
- Justice and Home Affairs Directorate of the European Commission
- International Organization for Migration
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- Asia-Pacific Consultations (APC)
- International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)
- Council of Europe (CoE)
- United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
- League of Arab States
- Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (COMESA)
- Agency for the Assistance of Refugees, Displaced and Returnees (AARDR)
- African Union
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Group of Latin American and the Caribbean in Geneva, Switzerland (GRULAC)
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
- Center for Latin American Migratory Studies (CEMLA)
- Inter-American Observatory for Migrants’ rights (OCIM)
- Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- Meetings
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- December 16-17, 2004, Berne, Switzerland, Second Conference of the Berne Initiative: “Managing International Migration Through Cooperation”
- September 9-10, 2004, Santiago de Chile, Chile, Berne Initiative Regional Consultations for the Americas
- July 29-30, 2004, Guilin, China, Berne Initiative Regional Consultations for Asia
- June 24-25, 2004, Budapest, Hungary, Berne Initiative Regional Consultations for Europe and Central Asia
- March 35-26, 2004, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Berne Initiative Regional Consultations for Africa
- July 2-3, 2003, Berne, Switzerland, Berne Initiative Consultations
- June 14-15, 2001, Berne Switzerland, International Symposium on Migration.
- Documents