IDM First Session 2023 – Leveraging Human Mobility in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) marks the first-time migration has been fully recognized as a core development consideration by the international community. The 2030 Agenda consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 accompanying targets – eight of which are explicitly linked to human mobility and all of which have an impact on, or are impacted by, human mobility. 

Strengthening the positive impact of human mobility on societies and sustainable development can help to advance key priority areas of the UN Common Agenda and 2030 Agenda and support the role of human mobility as a global public good for a renewed global social contract. This means understanding migration and displacement in the broader context of challenges to the social contract – such as inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; or environmental degradation – and reinforcing the role of migration to build stronger communities, thereby ensuring that the future of human mobility is embedded in multilateral and national frameworks for the years to come. 

The forthcoming SDG Summit, which will take place in September 2023, marks the mid-way point of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and an opportunity to assess progress towards the SDGs. In support of these common efforts, both sessions of the International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) – in New York and Geneva – will focus on assessing how migration – and IOM – can further contribute to the attainment of the SDGs, leaving no one behind. 

The two sessions of the IDM in 2023 are part of a broader global process to develop transformative and accelerated actions leading up to the target year of 2030 for achieving the SDGs. In this context, the IDM will be timely in the lead up to global commitments that include the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN High-level meeting on universal health coverage (UHC-HLM), the SDG Summit, and the Summit of the Future. It will also guide IOM’s own contributions to attaining the SDGs and particular IOM contributions to the Summit of the Future and other key UN processes, including by discussing and contributing to refine “acceleration points”, which were first introduced by IOM in its submission to the HLPF in 2020. These actions – in the context of major global transformations that already present and will continue to generate an evolving set of challenges and opportunities in relation to human mobility – apply an integrated approach to migration, recovery and sustainable development, and build on the opportunities the GCM objectives can bring for the achievement of the SDGs individually and as a whole. 

The Summary of Conclusions is available here.

Please share your feedback on the session by responding to a brief survey. 

For any queries on the IDM, please contact idmworkshop@iom.int. 

Day 1, Opening remarks: Ensuring human mobility is leveraged as a crucial component to achieve the 2030 Agenda

Day 1, 30 March 2023 

10:00 - 11:30 | Opening remarks: Ensuring human mobility is leveraged as a crucial component to achieve the 2030 Agenda (Recording) 

Opening Remarks: 

• Mr. António Vitorino, Director General IOM (Video) 

Keynote remarks: 

• Ms. Amina J. Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations  
• H. E. Mr. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary General, Organisation of African, Caribbean & Pacific States (OACPS)  
• Mr. Stefano Sannino, Secretary General, European External Action Service, European Union   
• Mr. Marcos Antonio Palacios Castro, General Secretary, National Migration Institute (INM), Honduras  
• Mr. Eduardo Paes, Mayor, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil  
• Ms. Mayada Adil, Young leader, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 

Day 1, Panel 1: Strengthening migration data for action, insight, and foresight 

11:30 – 1:00 | Panel 1: Strengthening migration data for action, insight, and foresight (Recording) 

Objective: Through data, this session illustrated the compelling, positive role migrants and diaspora play in sustainable development. The session highlighted data-driven approaches to strengthen durable solutions which are aligned with the 2030 Action Agenda and SDGs, the IDP Action Agenda, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement, and the Global Compact on Migration, among others.    

Moderators: 

• Ms. Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)  
• Ms. Koko Warner, Director, International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Global Data Institute  

Speakers:  

• Ms. Adriana Oropeza, Technical Coordinator, Vice Presidency of Sociodemographic Statistics, National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) Mexico  
• Ms. Ann Singleton, Reader in Migration Policy, University of Bristol  
• Mr. Diego Iturralde, Chief Director, Demography Unit, Statistics South Africa, Republic of South Africa  
• Ms. Milena Franke, Youth Forum Programme Manager, Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP), United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) 

Day 1, Panel 2: Empowering diasporas, migrants and displaced persons as development agents

3:00 – 4:40 | Panel 2: Empowering diasporas, migrants and displaced persons as development agents (Recording) 

Objective: Provide a platform for migrants and diasporas to share their experiences and views on how to strengthen diaspora contributions in development.  

Moderators: 

• Ms. Aissata Kane, Senior Regional Adviser for Sub-Saharan Africa, IOM  
• Mr. Henri Dommel, Director of Inclusive Finance, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) 

Speakers: 

• Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh  
• Ms. Betty Mupenda Wangozi, Citizens and Diaspora Organisations Directorate (CIDO), African Union Commission  
• Dr. Ibrahim Norbert Richard, Deputy Director General, Organization of African, Caribbean & Pacific States (OACPS)  
• Dr. Rana Dajani, President, Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World (SASTA)  
• Ms. Rachel Perić, Executive Director, Welcoming America 

Day 1, Panel 3: Towards the acceleration of SDG 3 implementation: ensuring an inclusive Universal Health Coverage agenda

4:40 – 6:00 | Panel 3: Towards the acceleration of SDG 3 implementation: ensuring an inclusive Universal Health Coverage agenda (Recording) 

Objective: Identify the opportunities to promote the health and empowerment of refugees and migrants therein.    

Moderators: 

• H. E. Dr. Suriya Chindawongse, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Thailand  
• Dr. Poonam Dhavan, Senior Migration Health Policy Adviser, IOM 

Speakers: 

• Dr. Abdelkrim Meziane Bellefquih, Secretary General at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Morocco  
• Ms. Vivian Lopez, Team Lead Global and Country Engagement, Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health   
• Dr. Girum Hailu, Director for Health and Social Development, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)  
• Dr. Gwendolyn Pang, Secretary General of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) 

Day 2, Panel 4: Engaging Youth to capitalize on the potential of human mobility in the context of climate change, environmental degradation, disasters and for greening the economy 

Day 2, 31 March 2023   

10:00 – 11:30 | Panel 4: Engaging Youth to capitalize on the potential of human mobility in the context of climate change, environmental degradation, disasters and for greening the economy (Recording) 

Objective: Explore how to foster youth engagement in green activities that can build their resilience, accelerate climate action, and contribute to addressing the environmental drivers that compel them to move.   

Moderator: 

• Ms. Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General, IOM 

Speakers: 

• H. E. Mr. Harold Agyeman, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission, Ghana  
• Mr. Vladislav Kaim, Board Member, Care About Climate  
• Ms. Krystel Sil Sikana, Advisor, African Union Diaspora Youth Initiative  
• Mr. Jyri Jäntti, Climate Change Specialist, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Regional Collaboration Centre (RCC) in Kampala 

Day 2, Panel 5: Building resilient and peaceful cities and communities 

11:30 – 13:00 | Panel 5: Building resilient and peaceful cities and communities (Recording) 

Objective: Identify tangible actions that would foster and enable environments in the integration and inclusion of migrants towards sustainable peace.     

Moderators:  

• H. E. Mr. Alhaji Fanday Turay, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations and Current Africa Group Chair  
• Ms. Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General, IOM 

Speakers: 

• H. E. Mr. Augusto de Arruda Botelho Neto, National Secretary, Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Federative Republic of Brazil  
• Mr. Brian Williams, Chief of the Financing for Peacebuilding Branch Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) DPPA   
• Dr. Mike Wessells, Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health, Program on Forced Migration and Health, School of Public Health, Columbia University  
• Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)  
• Mr. Olivier Slosse, Head, Police Zone in Brussels North (and Champion of Community Policing Initiative), Government of Belgium 

Closing remarks: Key actions to accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 

3:00 – 4:30 | Closing remarks: Key actions to accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (Recording) 

MC:

• Mr. Pär Liljert, Director, IOM Office to the UN in New York   

Closing Remarks:

• H. E. Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, President, 77th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (PGA)  
• H. E. Ms. Lachezara Stoeva, President, United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)  
• Ms. Yasmina Benslimane, Gender Specialist, Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP), United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) 
• Mr. António Vitorino, Director General, IOM (Video)