Phnom Penh – Cambodia this week (11/10) hosted a national consultation on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). The meeting, in Phnom Penh, in the run up to Asia-Pacific regional GCM consultations to be held in Bangkok November 6-8, attracted over 170 participants from government, civil society and the private sector. It was chaired by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking Samdech Krolahom Sar Kheng.

The GCM, which was launched during the UN General Assembly in September 2016 as part of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, aims to establish an international cooperation framework on migration. The agreement will be closely linked to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is expected to be adopted by UN Member States at an intergovernmental conference in late 2018.

IOM Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Dr. Nenette Motus welcomed Cambodia’s national consultation as a means to ensure that the GCM recognizes the contributions of the migrants at its core, and at the same time safeguards their safety, dignity and human rights.

“The recommendations of this and other national consultations will inform the upcoming regional consultations and ultimately the Global Compact. They relate not just to migrants and their families in Cambodia, but also have important messages for the countries of transit and destination,” she said.

IOM Cambodia Chief of Mission of Cambodia Dr. Leul Mekonnen noted that migration has become an integral part of the social and economic fabric of Cambodia and an important contributor to poverty reduction. “More than a million Cambodians are migrating across borders every year, and even more are migrating internally,” he said.

“Ensuring the well-being of migrants and the families they leave behind is critical for the country and its sustainable development. The national consultation is an important platform through which Cambodia can ensure that policy dialogue, cooperation and partnership on migration issues are included in the GCM,” he added.

The Cambodian national consultation was structured to cover several thematic priorities identified by a Ministerial Working Group led by the Ministry of the Interior. These were specific to the Cambodian and regional setting and related to climate change and migration, labor mobility, trafficking in persons, remittances and development, border management and the human rights of migrants.

For more information please contact Dr. Leul Mekonnen at IOM Phnom Penh. Tel. +855 12900131. Email: lmekonnen@iom.int