 I wish to thank both the past chair and the future chair for these brilliant introductions to a subject that is of great interest to all of you because I think we need to be honest that you have all been disappointed in what the GMG to date has been able to accomplish. I think we all recognize that and I recall one of the first things that happened after I came to town was that a small group of the GMG got together and we had a retreat in nearby Anisey and we all talked about reforms and in fact it has taken us until the chairmanship of the regional commissions to get anything at all underway on that and I think with the arrival now of the ILO and the chair for a full year with a one year agenda and with the wind in our sails from the inspiration of these to remarks here that we perhaps can finally move into a higher gear if you will to produce some practical results that you had hoped you would see from this organization of 16 agencies which is quite remarkable if you think about it. If we now as 16 agencies can set aside a little more time for the GMG work which is partly missing up to now and move it ahead so I think without further ado we've got about we have up to 45 minutes if we need it for discussion I'd like to open the floor for comments questions critiques comments what would what would you like to say on the subject now it's something that's concerned you for a long time floors open the United States comes to our rescue you have the floor thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Director General and I want to start by thanking the GMG Troika as well as the earlier presentation by Special Representative Sutterland the United States supported the establishment of the GMG and we believe that as member states and as members of the executive boards and agencies which make up the GMG we also have a responsibility to improve the GMG although the change is recommended by the members in July 2013 address some of the structural deficiencies in the GMG we remain concerned that it lacks continuity consistency practicality and expertise for example we have not seen practical results from the GMG in the field and in country missions given these concerns the US has recommended naming IOM as the permanent co-chair of the GMG while we recognize other members including the incoming chair ILO have mandates and expertise related to specific areas of migration such as labor migration trafficking in persons and refugee movements IOM is the sole international entity with a mandate focused exclusively on migration we believe the breadth of IOM's expertise in migration would complement the depth of expertise in organizations with more focus migration mandates and then as a permanent co-chair IOM would bring much needed consistency and practicality to the GMG so my question is what do the members of the panel think of this thank you do I see other speakers hi Uruguay you you have the floor Muchisimas gracias señor director general y muchísimas gracias también a los panelistas por su presentación evidentemente quizás la pregunta mía sea la misma que la de Estados Unidos queremos oír más de los resultados prácticos y agradecemos al GMG el haber presentado insumos conjuntamente por cierto al diálogo de alto nivel porque yo fortaleció los mensajes políticos y quizás ayudó a ese a ese consenso intervornamental en la asamblea general de naciones unidas entonces quisiera conocer un poco más ya que es un misterio el GMG como nos decía el director swim cuál es el reparto de de competencia porque como dijeron el tema migraciones es intersectorial y es complejo entonces por ejemplo el aspecto de trata de personas puede ser visto desde el punto de vista laboral desde el punto de vista de derechos humanos entonces cuál es la agencia que va a tener el liderazgo en cada uno esos temas y si ya tienen algunos ideas o proyectos de resultados concretos o de trabajos concretos que quieren empujar como agencias de naciones unidas o agencias internacionales en los países o bueno promoverlo en el ámbito multilateral se que la la OIM tiene proyectos específicos sobre un código de ética para empresas que contratan personas no sé no sé qué otro tipo de proyectos se puedan impulsar ya sea como organizaciones en sí mismas o como o desde el GMG unificamente muchas gracias I now give the floor to Canada thank you chair the HLD exceeded our our expectations in presenting a consensus of member states in the international community and we actually like to thank ICMC for the very useful matrix that they have done to to present that the follow-up will be will be centrally important and I guess what we see is a bunch of still rather disparate mandates institutionally the human rights of migrants was a theme that was particularly emphasized in the outcomes so the the treaty bodies the human rights bodies will have a role in in in furthering that agenda we have the GFMD which many have complimented here and we too regard as a as essentially important body in providing a forum for intergovernmental perspectives the GMG representing represented here key for international coherence including the IOM with a very broad mandate and those agencies having deeper more specialized agencies or mandates and with respect to migration the only mandate that has been provided for international coherence amongst all of those entities was a comment delivered by the secretary general asking the SRSG to coordinate between the GFMD and the GMG which strikes us as a very informal mandate and puts a lot of emphasis in the special representative to present this coherence what is this is this a sufficient way forward what else might be necessary to buttress the coherence amongst the different entities we too have gone out publicly in support of the IOM providing continuity as a as a co-chair that may or may not be be realistic but there there may be other ways in which we can make sure that there is continuity and a stronger drive towards coherence between these different entities thank you thank you do you have other speakers if not I like to turn to the panel members for any comments they'd like to make on these three interventions I'm sorry apparently I miss UNHCR I didn't see would you you have the floor thank you and UNHCR followed by UNDP and UNICEF all members of the GMG UNHCR well thank you very much Ambassador Swing it's a great pleasure to be part of this discussion here at your IOM Council and to also perhaps put forward a little bit the perspective of UNHCR not least since we as you were saying were one of the founding members of the Geneva migration group which was the precursor to the global migration group I think clearly the partnership is a very core concept for us in anything that we do when it comes to forced displacement as well as migration issues and I think we see huge value in that partnership through this group and perhaps also in response to the Euroquian ambassador I think there are various themes on which we work together perhaps not in this formalized institutional structure but for instance on trafficking UNHCR has been working very closely together with IOM we have for instance a standard operating procedures between the two organizations but also with UNICEF and UNODC in other areas we work very closely together with ILO for example so I think it depends a little bit on on the very complex issue of addressing the broader migration governance side but then when it comes to very concrete issues there are obviously different coalitions of organizations that try to address very concretely some of the challenges that we face I would also like to thank ambassador swing and IOM for your extremely strong leadership in steering the GMG through the high-level dialogue and we are very heartened to see in particular the emphasis that we have seen coming out of the dialogue on the human rights dimension and in particular the protection dimension obviously protection is very close to our heart in particular because we have an existing and very strong legal framework on refugee protection and I think it is one area that we would think could also inspire the migration governance side of things I would also like to mention that in the context of mixed migratory movements we have as you know this 10-point plan that tries to address refugee and mixed migration we have been engaged especially with IOM as a strong partner in order to work out with countries to address very particular mixed migratory situations I mean we have just done this recently with Yemen. Yemen is at the center of a mixed migratory movement and has shown sterling leadership in trying to address it amidst a very complex environment but at the same time it must also be said that in the current context we are not just talking about mixed flows but also about refugee flows in many instances just looking at Syria looking at some of the global refugee groups that we have and they are in fact if you like part of migratory movements but there is but the reason why they leave is due to human rights abuses to conflict and other types of predicaments that compel them to leave so they don't have much of a choice but to actually go and it is these same refugees that are also caught up as we just saw in the tragedies in the Mediterranean that are caught up in issue of rescue at sea and and very complex issues of trying to cross often very troubled waters in unsee worthy boats and as we just also saw in the Lampedusa incidents I would like to share perhaps four observations from our perspective and I think they could perhaps also help in the advancing of our agenda in the years to come obviously from a UNHCR perspective we are very keen and interested in engaging in the discussions on the integration of migration and the importance and the positive side of migration and of migration rights in the post 2015 development agenda and it also has implications for refugees and I think it was interesting to hear the director general of the ILO talk about the labor benefits but when it comes to refugees there is an issue of access to the labor market there's an issue of labor mobility for refugees there's the issue of recognition of qualifications and access to appropriate work because of the particular status that refugees have so the portability of pensions and documents as well as access to reduced costs for remittances for migrants can equally benefit refugees so we're very keen to pursue this and look forward to working with ILO in particular to find practical means of taking this further forward in the post 2015 agenda the second point the SRSG's initiative on migrants in crisis is an important one in that it tries to address an important gap that currently exists and we're often confronted with that gap we saw it in the Libya crisis and the Libya emergency where there were migrants in crisis and where IOM and UNICEF had to step up to find practical ways to resolve it the other issue that is related to this is the overwhelming of asylum systems very often the overwhelming of asylum systems is also part of a structural problem because you we do not have enough migration governance so as a result people choose to move into the asylum system albeit that they would not necessarily need to access that system so the more we have migration governance including in the in this area of migrants in crisis the more we hope that the asylum system would be there for the ones who need to access this the third point that I would like to make is in relation to partnerships and civil society we have just heard from ICMC a very powerful presentation I think we as a group need to work much more closely with civil society actors on all fronts to ensure that we benefit from the very important perspectives and expertise and and I think that's a very important way to structure perhaps our work in the future and the fourth the fifth the fourth point sorry that's the last one I think when it comes to the refugee component in mixed migratory movements it's clear that the emphasis on human rights is an important one I think in the same context it's also key to emphasize the very specific legal nature and responsibilities that we have when it comes and that's the normative element that was mentioned by the director general of ILO when it comes to according as very specific status to status people and to refugees and it's important to bear that in mind as we move forward on this thank you very much we look forward to working with you thank you may I call on the distinguished delegate of the UNDP yes thank you very much director general I spoke earlier this morning so I'll be very brief now but I'd like to thank the IOM and the member states for actually giving such a prominent space to the global migration group in this forum I think it's very important as you said and you know that UNDP is is one of the members of of the GMG and as such I think what we normally do stress and emphasize is the importance the positive aspect that migration has on development and in view of the previous discussion here I think it's important to try to even provide more evidence in this respect the fourth point that I would like to make here is that we also agree that migration has multi-dimensional aspect so we have to look at it from a rights perspective we have to look at it from a development perspective and also from a social protection perspective so that is then also why the GMG group is so important and listening to the previous speaker too I think and I emphasize that before to working closely with civil society and with all partners on the ground is tremendously important and as the US delegate said that we had seen very little results on the ground I'm sorry to hear that I have worked previously at country level in Cape Verde where the UN country team actually worked together with the with IOM very closely IOM formed part of the UN country team where we tried to issue to address the issues of migration and last I'd like to say that we look forward to working with ILO during the next during next year of course also very closely with IOM to ensure that the results of the GMG group are more evident thank you very much thank you another colleague of GMG UNICEF I think I saw your flag Ambassador Zwing many times for this opportunity also to contribute to such a critical discussion and as many of my colleagues from the UN have mentioned this is really any very unique opportunity for the GMG also to implement the recommendations made to be open and to be also able to have this dialogue with with member states three points maybe first so we start as a response also to some of the questions that UNICEF also as I mentioned two days ago when we thank also this council for for letting UNICEF join as an observer the council of IOM I mentioned the excellent collaboration we enjoy with IOM and it is both at the global level on all the issues related to child protection mechanism and unaccompanied children of migrants and separate children but most particularly at the field level this is really a critical era as others have mentioned and we enjoy the strong collaboration in development discussions for the issues of mainstream immigration but also in the humanitarian crisis when we know the needs are so acute for children in pre-crisis preparedness emergency response and also post-crisis recovery coming to the GMG specific discussion we would like really to congratulate IOM for its very active chairmanship of the global migration group we are fully committed to supporting the GMG chair and the Troika in following up on the decision and outcomes of the second UNHLD at high level dialogue on international migration and development which was referred to several times today in particular on the inclusion of migration in the post 2015 development agenda UNICEF also welcomes the leadership shown by the SRSG on international migration and development mr. Peter Sutherland that we heard also this morning in advocating for the inclusion of migration in the post 2015 development agenda as well as the support of the IOM GMG chair to the informal working group led by the SRSG at the HLED the SG requested the GMG to collaborate more closely with the GFMD and improve coordination at the field level we trust also and we welcome the new ILO chair that it will take this forward in 2014 with IOM as part of the GMG Troika UNICEF is very supported of the field engagement and the initiatives at country level by the GMG UNICEF also welcomes the commitment by member states civil society partners and the US system to protect the human rights of all migrants and their families as an as an important outcome of the HLED the focus on the particular needs of groups such as children adolescents youth and women is notable and I was also particularly pleased to hear this morning Mr. Jan Elanson specifically referring to children and adolescent when looking at the most vulnerable groups to put this commitment into practice the international community will need to focus on guaranteeing all the rights and trying in the convention on the rights of the child to all children in the context of migration in countries of origin transit at destination including children left behind in countries of origin and children born to migrant parents at destination this will involve guaranteeing equitable access to services such as health care education housing and social protection regardless of status a stress in the UN secretary general eight-point agenda for action we think also that the HLED follow-up process should need to be embedded in the UN policymaking structure such as the SG policy committee the HLCP, CEB, the UNDG and the executive committee for humanitarian affairs this will encourage ownership and will contribute to policy position is and developing a consensus which as we mentioned earlier are also very important for more effective advocacy finally a few points on the post 2015 development agenda we believe UNICEF believes that we should leave no one behind an equity and inclusion at the core of the 2015 development agenda when discussing migration we should think of the development first and for most as the human development of migrants and their families migrants are active subjects of their own development in addition to contributing to the development of the communities they join and live migration can only make a positive contribution to development if the human rights of migrants and their families are protected respected and fulfilled it is also essential that we move beyond protection issues to address the social dimensions of migration such as policies to tackle poverty social exclusion discrimination and xenophobia population finally population dynamics globalization environmental change are transforming the patterns of human mobility and we heard this also today it is that's crucial for us to be forward-looking think about the next generation and invest on issues that only likely to grow an importance in the coming decades such as child adolescent and youth migration thank you thank you very much I see the flag I think John Bingham of ICMC you have the floor yes sorry sorry chair to take the floor I have no prepared a statement just a question not perhaps even just a piece of a reply I thank you very much to you and and to the incoming chair the GMG for the outreach to civil society to participate with the GMG I think we can say on behalf of civil society partners here and abroad that we'd happy to take up that invitation as long as it's practical to member agencies as well as civil society but to ask maybe a question or two maybe provocative question coming right out of a lot of the civil society discussions in preparation for the high level dialogue to touched on questions of global governance and this GMG so our understanding of the GMG has has come from its its history first with the Geneva migration group as you said chair that you know the six members are so broadening out to to the 16 and maybe now going one more to 17 as you say and we've been following most closely the thinking of the agency so many of whom we work with on the ground in real partnerships but the thinking to move to multi-year planning you know really a dynamic reform if it can work one that we're trying also in a dynamic reform with our own five-year eight-point plan but here's here's a little bit of the worry with respect perhaps to the size of the GMG and its its efforts these past years you know multi-year planning can be good and it also can be slow and group work can be you can add something and also can cannot slow things down as well we know that in civil society so when the when the US and others suggest IOM is more of a permanent co-chair or some other kind of structural reform it's worth it's worth asking whether whether when we look at the whole size of the GMG if 16 or 17 or 18 or many more might be might be a difficulty so the question we have as civil society is beyond communication and cooperation the question of where in the GMG there's a waiting a measuring of felt urgency on issues of migrants and migration and where there's a proper measuring of capacity and we think that those kind of questions are so important that to consider the proposal that the US and others have put forward we certainly considered the idea of co-chairs of civil society doing some thinking and recommendations on co-chair type structures for the GMG frankly we as a broad movement didn't know enough about the GMG to make any any solid recommendation but so the final the questions in there is 16 or 17 members is that just too big a size and lastly is the GMG is that the road to better governance of migration is it if it's a road out is it the way to move fast enough on it given these urgencies that we seem to have so much convergence on curious what the chairs and others might might have to stress on it thanks thanks very much questions will come back to those in just a minute I see the flag of the distinguished delegate of Egypt you have the floor now thank you sir chairman I think we've listened to the lively debate which we followed very accurately today we now know better but we now have a better understanding of the dynamics and synergies between the GMG and the GFM D and the question that we have right now is how can we have key permanent role in the IOM as the main body entrusted with the task of migration in the GMG thank you Mr Chairman well thank you very much I think those are very very useful statements by everyone I think I'd like now to turn to our panelists to any reactions that they might like to have okay a number of very specific issues have been raised which are important I think that there is a an expression used in you know in US football about receiving a hospital pass well the US representative distinguished representative delivered a hospital pass to me which I'm going to decline I would I think I must admit that prudence and caution in responses to questions has not always been a characteristic that I can claim but in this particular case I am going to avail of it as the special representative I think it'd be inappropriate for me to enter into the debate at this stage in regard regarding IOM's role as a permanent co-chair or otherwise of the GMG because I know it is a matter of some debate within the UN itself and it's not for me to define an answer to it I do of course greatly appreciate the role of IOM which has been consistent and important and I've already referred to it but I do want to address the more general issues that have been raised about the GMG from the beginning the GMG was seen as an important element in bringing together the various agencies of the UN to make the UN a more effective contributor to the policies debate and actions of the global community on migration but I would be less than candid to if I were to fail to admit that the GMG has not been a non ambiguous success as a collective I'd refer later to some views that I have as to why this might be the case individually I should first of all say members of the GMG have been of enormous help in the debate on migration both on the ground UNHCR IOM itself and many others have contributed greatly and indeed have worked well together in individual cases and they continue in the debate to play a role in identifying and finding solutions to issues and contributing intellectually to the debate the World Bank Dessa Mary various others have made intellectual contributions that are important but why is the GMG as a group not being quite as effective as might have been hoped well first of all we have to ask ourselves what did we hope for did we define what we wanted from the GMG could we define more specifically what the GMG as a group should be doing I think that there's a legitimate question to be asked there part of the failure I think is to do with a lack of mature reflection on the contribution that the GMG should be making are we thinking of it in terms of personal personnel allocation within the membership if it itself doesn't analyze how collective discussions and contributions can help the migration debate it also has failed to take the first step towards making those contributions multi-year planning is fine and it's important consistency in leadership is also fine and extremely important but I think it has to be within a framework in other words these indispensable tools in practical process terms must supplement a definition of where the GMG can help we know how the individual institutions could and should and do but working together I have great sympathy also for the view that the membership of the GMG should be focused upon those who have as a central component of their role a function relating to that to to to migration it's a sort of a general rule of the UN that if there's a committee or a body everybody wants to be honest that is as true of the members as it is of the GMG nobody wants to be off a committee they all want to be honest even if they sit there and do nothing say nothing and contribute nothing now I'm not saying that there are members of the GMG who are doing nothing saying nothing or contributing nothing but it should be a group that is focused on practical action within a defined mandate that it itself I keep coming back to this initially helps us to define helps us to understand why and how they could work better together to help us both in the GFMD and more generally in the debate and I think I think that that is is very very important I think internal organization within the constituent parts of the key elements of the GMG is also important and what I mean by that is we don't expect and cannot expect the directors general or secretaries general to play the constant negotiating role and engagement in the GMG but I think we can legitimately that in each of the organizations that claims to have an interest and wishes to be involved in the GMG that they delegate at least a serious and important figure within their organization to play the role of the coordination somebody who can deliver the organization and their own secretary general and who is in a position of real power and authority simply having somebody there in effect taking notes is not good enough so I think that we're dealing here with issues of process and definition of role and so on that perhaps we have to re-examine ab initio not by having a huge task force or report because this should be simple enough if you have the right people sitting around the table to say well this is what we can do and these are the things we can't do these are the things the organizations themselves should be doing but sitting around a table with each one banging the table if I may say so with that big pejorative saying look human rights and the normative side is the only thing that counts or remittances is the only thing that counts or that something else is the only thing that counts simply doesn't work it won't work and it's the old I'm afraid failing that often arises in the UN of you know advancing your own book and we're not into we're all our own book on this thing that's the whole purpose of a collective working team reaction I conclude by saying that I've no doubt about the good will and the genuine aspiration of the leadership of the GMG the secretary general has exhorted them I've heard them exhort themselves and everybody in the GMG is concerned to make it work so I don't believe it's a lack of will but perhaps rolling up to the odd meeting isn't enough we have to have a little bit of preliminary thinking and leadership and if I'm given a hospital pass by the by the United States I'll pass on a hospital pass to the director general of the ILO and there's no more deserving recipient particularly having regards the part of the word where she comes from which is good I'm in the fortunate position to be able to pass on the hospital pass to my neighbor special representative has very skillfully discussed and I think you know I have to not only defer to his experience in the area which is a great deal greater than mine but also underline I think the importance of the issues which which he has responded to and the importance of the interventions from a number of the partner organizations of the GMG I have to say listening to the interventions from the floor you know it is rather encouraging and yet to hear the commitment of these different organizations the depth of knowledge the depth of commitment to work on migration are they disparate mandates I don't know as Canada described them they're certainly mandates which are all relevant to migration issues and the challenge of the GMG is to make them complementary and to make them coherent and I am certainly one of those who feels that trying to coordinate trying to you know get 16 or 17 different organizations to come together in a single endeavor which works well which works effectively is an extraordinarily big challenge and I've listened carefully as I say as a newcomer to this arena to the expressions of disappointment the recognition which I think a widely shared that up until this point we probably haven't done as well as the organizations themselves would like to do and we haven't responded to the entirely legitimate demands of member states to perform optimally in addressing migration issues the question which arose in my mind listening to the discussion today both from the floor and the response of the special representative is well you know where to the problems lie is there an original sin as it were a design defect in the matter in which the GMG has been constituted I don't know the answer to that question well I do know is that efforts have been made as recently as July in the principles meeting to address the working methods of the GMG to try to bring about greater coherence through adjusting the modalities through which it works and it's quite possible that further modifications need to be made I have an open mind in that regard but I think it is absolutely a part of the duties of the GMG to consistently review the way it works and to see what does need to be done to deliver we should be subject I think to the most rigorous disciplines in that regard there is of course sort of a law of institutions which says that you know the results that you get from a meeting are an inverse proportion to the number of people sitting around the table I've been there and I know that that can be the case and yet you don't want to exclude people from the room who've got something to offer so there's a real dilemma to that and I I sort of take take the lead from my neighbour who says well now if you're going to be at them at the table bring something along and play a role play a role now there's got to be a sort of a threshold there if we're going to work effectively now the longer I go on the more effectively I avoid that hospital pass but I don't think I'm going to go on any longer I'll leave it at that but the thoughts that are coming from the room are clearly thoughts that we're going to have to take on board be it in the GMG be it with our work with the global forum be it with the relationship with the special representative and and from my part at least I think these are very very important questions that we need to to get deeper into you know and without getting to go to get over ourselves as well to a certain extent you know this should not be institutions bringing their own book and promoting their own book as Peter Sutherland has said we should absolutely be resistant to that type of behavior I'll just add a couple of words because a lot of has been said I think what we heard from member states here in the panel and also from the speakers previous speakers I think it's a big challenge before our colleague director general for ILO to tackle this matter because the remarks that here mentioned here will have resonate resonate in the future work and will be taken very well serious me who is representing five regional commissions we heard the message we will do through our work not only in the work of M GMG but also through our work together with member states to contribute to this very important issue I think through intergovernmental bodies and direct work on the on the ground I think we can contribute to this this important work and make GMG more efficient I think we can coordinate and put our expertise together and I think each of the current member of GMG has its role to play how big this is role depends where we are and tackling the issue and how we are going to go about of course it needs work to be done and I would emphasize one from the point of regional commissions are very important linkage between developments and migration because we are all before anything economic commissions to work more for bring up development of the countries we are working so emerging this to put these two together development and migration I think we can make more efficient the work of GMG but also the migration issue very much on on the agenda thank you I think it leaves is it up to me only to express thanks in your behalf for this excellent panel of really very distinguished colleagues I want to thank in particular Peter Sutherland for taking on two panels today thank you very much for that and I want to thank also the director general of the international labor organization Mr. Guy Ryder and the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe of the UN spent our collage all three of you for the time you've given us and for the insights you've shared with us and we're looking forward to working closely with you all during the presidency and the the chairmanship of ILO for this coming year but thank you very much and please let's give them a round of applause thank you