Ethical labour recruitment as the pathway for social protection of migrant workers

ICMC would like to thank the Committee on Migrant Workers for this General Discussion. Our organization and our members have been delighted to work with the Committee over the years, including so closely on General Comment No. 1, which presented rights-based solutions to exploitation of migrant domestic workers.

The first panel today discussed the myriad of abuses that occur in the workplace—sadly well known and documented—and now, we would like to raise two points on workplace protection:Read more<

Dignity across borders: Solutions in place and within reach

On International Migrants Day it is important to remember what rights and migration can actually do. Most of the world’s 232 million migrants are living and working with legal immigration status: in jobs and countries that need migrant workers even in tough economic times; taking care of their families; paying taxes and social security; many starting or supporting businesses; and contributing measurably to development in countries where they are and come from.Read more<

Normalizing responses to migrants, and their families, movement and role in development of all kinds

Speaking in our own name and for our network of members worldwide, we first wish to express appreciation to you, Director General Swing, and to Deputy Director General Thompson for your personal leadership. In the hallway just around the corner in front of the Assembly Hall here, there is an exhibit with a line from a writer and scientist: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do” [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]. It should have your pictures on it.Read more<

The success, big story and real possibilities ahead from last month’s UN High Level Dialogue

At the invitation of Mexico, Switzerland, Mauritius and Sweden, ICMC has been organizing global civil society in the Global Forum (GFMD) these recent years; with the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly asking us to perform a similar role for civil society at the High Level Dialogue (HLD) in New York this year. I will speak broadly then, as “a” representative of civil society, to the work of and from the HLD going forward.Read more<

SYRIA REFUGEE CRISIS: CEC calls for access to safety in Europe

SYRIA REFUGEE CRISIS: CEC calls for access to safety in Europe<

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13, 2)

CEC’s Governing Board appeals to European governments and people to act now and to provide protection for refugees fleeing Syria.

Refugees from Syria in neighbouring countries

More than two years into the conflict, an overwhelming regional humanitarian crisis is unfolding as refugees struggle on a daily basis to access the most basic services including shelter, health, water, sanitation and primary education.Read more<

Statement on Trafficking in Human Beings

Each human being is a free person, whether man, woman, girl or boy, and is destined to exist for the good of all in equality and fraternity. Any relationship that fails to respect the fundamental conviction that all people – men, women, girls and boys – are equal and have the same freedom and dignity constitutes a grave crime against humanity.Read more<

Needing ILO on Labour Migration

ICMC is pleased to be one of the NGOs invited here; thank you.

I speak today in the name of our own organization and also as global coordinator of civil society activities in processes of the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (HLD) and Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). In our five minutes, we have three things to say: on substance, tools, and process; and two questions to ask.Read more<

Rebooting global governance of migration and development: An HLD outcome of a 5-year collaboration between civil society and-governments

In November last year, over 800 representatives of civil society organizations met in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Mauritius and in the World Social Forum on Migration in Manila. In plenaries and working sessions, we developed the proposal to you to adopt a 5-year Agenda of Collaboration between governments and civil society as an outcome at this year’s High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (HLD). One of the 8 points on that Agenda is collaborating together, over 5 years, in a practical “reboot” of migration governance.Read more<

Statement on the Partnership Principle in the EU Asylum and Migration Fund

In November 2011, the European Commission published a set of legislative proposals on EU funding in the area of Home Affairs for the period 2014-2020, which are currently being discussed by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission. As part of these proposals, an Asylum and Migration Fund (AMF) will be created, which will play an important role in financing activities addressing the needs of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants across Europe.Read more<

Choosing Alternatives to Chaos: Toward Better International Governance of Migration… and Peace

Governance is complicated, and it is not.

Good governance is first about paying attention to human beings.

Good governance of migration pays attention to people who are vulnerable or hurt. Last week in Geneva, one of our NGO partners in Italy described how 8,000 people arriving on boats, half dead from hunger, thirst and war in Libya, made it clear that the need for greater governance in migration today is not theoretical. Governance must be practical.Read more<