New York – The United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) –  the biggest gathering of governments, business and civil society leaders to review progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – will be convened from Tuesday, 9 July, to Thursday, 18 July 2019. This will be the 4th HLPF since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. 

With emerging evidence suggesting that the international community must dramatically accelerate action to meet all the SDGs by 2030, this year’s HLPF provides a special platform to strengthen multilateralism and to demonstrate how our working together can generate practical solutions that ultimately deliver benefits and results where it matters most: in the lives of all people.  

For IOM, this means recognizing that we cannot achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs without due consideration of migrants and migration. It means recognizing that how we govern migration can be the difference between positive and negative development outcomes. One the one hand, migrants can – in the right conditions – make significant economic, social and cultural contributions to communities of origin and destination. On the other hand, if migration is poorly managed, it can negatively impact development; migrants can be put at risk, communities can come under strain, and development gains can be jeopardized.  

Ensuring that we maximize the benefits of migration, while addressing its downsides, requires strong policies and institutional frameworks, clear objectives and a long-term perspective. This in turn means that all governments should continually prioritize migration in national and global policy agendas, as a promise for advancing human development around the world. 

The HLPF is an opportunity to reinforce this message, and to reinvigorate action to ensure that migrants are not left behind. This year, IOM will highlight the importance of migration to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda by hosting a side event titled “Migration Governance Indicators for Well-managed Migration: An Evidence-based Approach to Global Commitments” on 17 July. 

The event will focus on the experience of the countries and cities that participated in the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) assessment, a tool for governments to take stock of the different structures and initiatives they have in place to manage migration, identify good practices and gaps and establish new priorities. 

The UN Network on Migration will also launch the Start-up Fund for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (Migration MPTF) mandated by the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) on 16 July. 

The Migration MPTF is the only funding mechanism fully dedicated to supporting collective action on migration and ensuring that mutual trust, determination and solidarity amongst States and with other stakeholders can be fostered to ensure the implementation of the objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration. 

Called the largest annual gathering on SDG progress, this HLPF will set the stage for the high-level week of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly in September, during which a series of Summits and mandated High-level Meetings will be held, aimed at inspiring ambitious action to end poverty, respond to the climate threat and secure healthy, peaceful and prosperous lives for all. Each meeting, which includes the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit and the SDG Summit, as well as high-level meetings on Financing for Development, Universal Health Coverage and Small Island Developing States, are intended to galvanize support for some of the major issues at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

IOM hopes that these unique, but inter-connected meetings will address migration effectively, so that we really can achieve migration for the benefit of all. 

For more info please contact the IOM Office to the United Nations, Chris Richter, Tel: +1 917 767 0863, Email: crichter@iom.int or Rahma Gamil Soliman, Tel: +1 917 515 74 54, Email: rsoliman@iom.int