On Monday and Tuesday, May 22nd and 23rd at the UN in New York, we had the second thematic session on “Addressing drivers of migration, including adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters and human-made crises, through protection and assistance, sustainable development, poverty eradication, conflict prevention and resolution.” Good Shepherd was substantively engaged in this session. Winifred was invited to be a respondent following the first panel presentation. Cecilie made a statement during the informal dialogue with the co-facilitators – the Ambassadors from Mexico and Switzerland to the United Nations.
Response to panel 1 on Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication: English Espanol
Winifred towards the end around marker 2:49 Webcast
Statement during the informal dialogue with co-facilitators English Espanol
An issue brief for this two day session was issued ahead of the session. It is a document well worth reading …Issue Brief #2 but only available in English. There is a Spanish and French version of the official website but not all document and events are covered there Official Website
The first thematic session was held in Geneva and addressed the human rights of all migrants. The thematic sessions prepare the way for an inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations to cover all dimension of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. This is the sort of information that we wished we had when attending our congregational chapter. In actual fact 2 compacts are being negotiated, the second is on Refugees. These are specific responses to the UN Summit of September 19th 2016 when a declaration was adopted expressing the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale. The Declaration is referred to as the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants. It is available in the 6 languages of the UN HERE
The series of 6 informal thematic session will gather substantive input and concrete recommendations to inform the development of the global compact on migration. The next session is in Geneva June 19th and 20th on ‘international cooperation and governance of migration in all its dimensions, including at borders, on transit, entry, return, readmission, integration and reintegration.’ Cecile from NY will attend and will travel to Berlin for the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) June 28th to 30th. Sr Mary Magdalena Z. Saavedra, from the Philippines has been invited to Berlin for this session of the GFMD. If you remember she attended previous one in Dakar with Theresa Symons.
The 4th, 5th and 6th informal thematic sessions are in New York, Vienna and Geneva respectively. See more I hope to attend the session in Vienna addressing human trafficking in early September.
I wish to express thanks to Magdalena, Theresa Symons, Clare Nolan, Marta Iris. Georgette Tannoury and Cristina Duranti for their collaboration in preparing for ‘Good Shepherd’ responses for the 2nd Thematic Session. This is what we need – more input from the grassroots. You can send an email or just make your comments at the bottom of this article.
Lastly you can get a flavour of the thematic sessions as recordings of the live webcast are available. Unfortunately the informal dialogue with the co-facilitators was not webcast. Link to Webcast sessions
The 4th Session presents a summary of the previous panels – do listen to the thematic expert Binod Khadria around marker 28th … wish list, reinventing the wheel and action orientated approaches.