Switzerland - Key actors in the Global Compact for Migration process will convene on 18 and 19 July at the United Nations Office in Geneva to explore and better understand migrant vulnerabilities through IOM’s International Dialogue on Migration.

The global compact is a major intergovernmental process, to which IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is extending technical and policy expertise as requested by Member States until its culmination in September 2018. It presents an historical opportunity for achieving a world in which migrants move as a matter of choice rather than necessity, through safe, orderly and regular channels, and in which migration is well governed and able to act as a positive force for individuals, societies and States.

This meeting, the second such Dialogue so far this year, is being held by IOM to create a space for governments and relevant actors to discuss solution-based approaches towards a global compact that reduces vulnerabilities and empowers migrants. Participants will explore all aspects of migrant vulnerabilities from a policy, cooperation and practical perspective.

Remarks will be made by high level guests including:

• William Lacy Swing, IOM Director General
• Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana
• Ahmed Hussen,  Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada
• Nanette Thomas, Minister of Political and Public Affairs of Sierra Leone
• Shahidul Haque, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh
• Anna Makakala, Commissioner General of Immigration Services of Tanzania
• José Luis Lacome, Vice Minister of Human Mobility of Ecuador
• Khadijetou Mbareck Fall, Minister Delegate for Maghrebian and African Affairs, and Expatriate Mauritanians of Mauritania
• Marina Del Corral, Secretary General of Immigration and Emigration of Spain
• Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly (via video message)

Contributions will also be made by other senior representatives of governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, diaspora, private sector, diaspora and academia. In total, 42 speakers will contribute to seven panels scheduled over the two-day event.

The outcomes of this discussion together with those of the first Dialogue held on 18-19 April 2017 at the UN Headquarters in New York will be gathered in a publication, which will input into the global compact stock-taking meeting to take place in Mexico in December.

Media are welcome to attend this Geneva event. To register, please email idmworkshop@iom.int. 

For more information, please contact Olivia Headon at IOM HQ, Tel: +4227179435, Email: oheadon@iom.int