The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: A closer look

The discourse around the global governance of migration has come a long way, in the face of some resistance to a fully contextualized understanding of migration. The Global Compact for Migration represents a monumental step forward towards a whole-of-society, multilateral approach to migration governance that integrates migration policymaking and analysis into a broader context. For the first time, Member States have a common framework to discuss progress on migration governance. The Compact encourages concerted and coordinated efforts towards a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, emphasizing that migration is a global issue. Before 2018, scholars had described the need for a more organic process for international cooperation on migration governance, stemming “from strategic deliberations around improving existing policies and practices rather than through a top‑down, institutional approach at the global level”;³⁹ the consultations and process towards the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration in 2018 were an organic process of this type. 

Nevertheless, there are some challenges to its universal implementation. First, the Global Compact for Migration is non-binding, and not all Member States voted in favour of the adoption of the Compact. There are a number of countries that are central to the migration landscape that are still reluctant to implement the Global Compact for Migration, while other countries that did not vote in favour of its adoption at the General Assembly are now engaged in its follow-up process. Second, this country-led process rightly positions States as the leaders of the implementation process, putting the Global Compact for Migration into practice through national implementation plans. States were encouraged to engage in inclusive and participatory processes based on whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches; however, the approach is left to the national process of each country, and differs among States. At the regional level, support for implementation of the Global Compact for Migration is expected from formal regional mechanisms, regional economic communities and RCPs. Through the quadrennial regional reviews to inform the IMRF, both States and regional forums inform the global process by sharing their reports on the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration, following the guidelines provided by the United Nations Network on Migration.⁴⁰ 

Since the GCIM, the global architecture of migration governance has changed, largely due to the institutionalization of international cooperation through formal United Nations channels. The existence of the Global Compact for Migration, despite its limitations, is without question critical for a global approach to migration challenges. The implementation of the Global Compact for Migration, and the institutional structures around it, have borrowed from various processes and forums stretching back to the HLD, GFMD and GCIM recommendations. Special emphasis has been placed throughout on the exchange of practices and peer learning, with emerging efforts to support the development of State-led frameworks. 

While the current setup has its challenges, it also embeds opportunities within the structure of the Global Compact for Migration to sustain momentum in terms of addressing migration challenges at the global level. These challenges (and opportunities) mainly relate to dedicated financing for national plans to implement the Global Compact, and blended financing options,⁴¹ engagement of non-governmental agencies as well as non-State actors in agenda setting and implementation through national, regional and global discussions,⁴² and robust monitoring and review processes in the form of regional reviews and the IMRF.