New York – UN Member States and UN entities Tuesday (16/07) unveiled a new trust fund in support of achieving safe, orderly and regular migration.

The initiative, The Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF), was called for by the Global Compact on Migration (GCM), adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018. The aim is to provide financing for innovative programmes designed to support States’ migration priorities, ensure the better protection of migrants, foster cooperation, and further the promotion of migration governance that benefits all.  

“The Migration Fund can provide the impetus for all of us to take the next step; to bring the Migration Compact to life, to move us closer to realizing the SDGs, and to effect positive change in the field of migration,” explained Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, at the launch held at the UNICEF’s New York headquarters.

For his part, António Vitorino—Director General of the International Organization for Migration and chair of the UN Network on Migration—compared the positive impacts of safe and regular migration with the ‘tremendous human and economic losses incurred when migration is poorly managed. DG Vitorino noted that migrants make up 3.4 per cent of the world population and contribute 10 per cent of global GDP, with 85 per cent of migrants’ earnings contributing to their host countries’s economies, and only a small proportion being remitted back to their homelands.

Nonetheless, migration today continues to be a life-threatening transaction for far too many men, women and children. According to UN figures, since 2014, over 32,000 migrants worldwide have lost their lives or gone missing along migratory routes. Many have fallen victim to trafficking, arbitrary detention and exploitative or forced labour. Many more victims remain unaccounted for.

Migration governance, DG. Vitorino added, is “one of the most urgent and profound tests of international cooperation in our time.”

DG Vitorino noted, too, that social discourse on migration currently is too often framed in binary terms: those in favour or against migration. Research shows, however, that migration is overwhelmingly positive for migrants and communities of origin, transit and destination–when managed in a safe, regular and orderly manner.

The Multi-Partner Trust Fund is open for contributions, with a target of USD 25 million for its first year of operations. Under the aegis of a representative Steering Committee comprising States, the UN system, and a broad range of partners, the Fund will facilitate the exchange of best practices and evidence-based migration policies.

The event was organized by the Chairs of the Friends of Migration group and the UN Migration Network, which brings together all UN entities working on migration.

Find more information on the Migration MPTF here.

For more information please contact:

IOM

Rahma Gamil Soliman, IOM New York, Tel: +1 917 515 7454, Email: rsoliman@iom.int or Leonard Doyle, IOM Geneva, Tel: +41 079 285- 7123, Email: ldoyle@iom.int

Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF)

Raul de Mora Jimenez, Tel: + 6467814254, Mobile : +1 631 464 8617, Email: raul.de.mora@undp.org