United States - IOM, UNFPA and partners are today launching the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) publication: “International Migration and Development: Contributions and Recommendations of the International System.”

The publication presents a set of recommendations on migration for the 2nd UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development (HLD) to be held 3-4 October 2013 at the UN HQ in New York.

Coordinated by UNFPA and IOM, the book is a compilation of the contributions to the HLD by members of the CEB, the 16-member Global Migration Group, and the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and the NGO Committee on Migration.

The individual chapters illustrate the work undertaken by the various contributors in support of migrants, their families, and societies touched by migration. The agency chapters draw the attention of policymakers and practitioners to tools, guides and good practices in the area of international migration and development.

Since the first HLD in 2006, there has been growing consensus that migration can be beneficial for all concerned if managed in ways that facilitate safe and empowering mobility, while ensuring that the rights of migrant are respected and protected.

The 2013 High Level Dialogue offers a timely opportunity to take stock of the mandates and work of the United Nations and IOM in the migration and development field since the first HLD.  It also marks an important occasion to discuss how migration may be integrated into the post-2015 United Nations Development Agenda.

This collaboration among 28 entities in formulating a common set of recommendations and outcomes on migration for the UN System ahead of the 2013 HLD marks a new stage in the evolution of a more coherent and broad-based framework for dialogue and cooperation on migration, which started with the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

The group makes recommendations in five key areas:

• Advancing the human rights and human development aspects of migration
• Generating knowledge and evidence about migration
• Making migration part of national development plans and the post-2015 UN Development Agenda
• Improving cooperation among States and other actors
•  Monitoring new trends in migration, especially the situation of migrants caught in crises, the effects of climate change on migration, and the importance of regional mobility and South-South migration. 

“International agencies and partners inside and outside the UN have developed a host of strategies to improve impact of migration on development around the world.  The book and its recommendations represent our combined experience,” says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, who also currently holds the Chair of the Global Migration Group. “We hope that the 2013 HLD will result in concrete actions that have migrants and their rights and dignity at the center.  Only then will migration truly benefit all – migrants, countries of origin and countries of destination.” 

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, pointed out that: “Behind every migration statistic is a human face. It is the face of a mother, a father, a young person, a child.  Although it is true that migration contributes significantly to the economic growth and development of countries, we should not forget that it also has tremendous potential to improve the lives of individuals and families.”

IOM Director General Ambassador William Lacy Swing and UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin will be joined by Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations at the launch scheduled for Friday 27 September 2013 at 1:15 pm at the North Lawn Building, Conference Room 6, United Nations HQ, New York.

For more information and to RSVP contact: rsvpnewyork@iom.int - Tel: + 1 212-681-7000 ext. 221

The publication will be available at http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/ and http://www.globalmigrationgroup.org/