 Please, distinguished colleagues, let me warmly welcome you to this 108th session of the Council. Particularly pleased, of course, to see our Member State colleagues and observers with us today. Let me also ask colleagues to put their mobile phones on vibration mode and keep them away from the microphones. As we all know, this causes interference. And also if you could speak at a reasonable pace to assist our very hard-working and professional interpreters, I'd be most grateful. Let me also say that I'm advised that all the credentials are in order for the meeting today and I suggest that the Council should take note of this. I see no objection. It's so decided. We now turn to item two, which is the report of the Chairperson of the Council. And let me, first of all, say how privileged and pleased I've been to serve as the Council Chair over the last period. Of course, this is the end of a four-year cycle on the Bureau. So this is the pages of history turn. Clearly, it's been a big year and I'll focus my remarks on my recent visit to Southeast Asia. Clearly, a number of big developments have unfolded. Of course, IOM joining the UN system, the active preparatory phase for the development of the global compact on migration, including a number of thematic sessions in Geneva, New York and Vienna, and of course, extensive regional, national and other consultations. A period of great reform and change in the UN system itself, the development system, humanitarian system, peace and security, many other areas. So we're in a period, I think, of transition and a big focus, of course, on the sustainable development goals and, of course, intensive global attention to the migration agenda, especially irregular flows and displacement more generally. So against that background, as colleagues will be aware, it's customary for the Chair to make a visit to the field. And in this case, I thought it appropriate to go to Southeast Asia partly to connect with the global consultation meeting in Bangkok, but also, I think, on the basis that the region hadn't been visited for some time. And the basic objective of these visits, I think, as colleagues will be aware, is to support and engage IOM staff in the field and to see some projects. I thought it appropriate also to brief IOM staff in the region, especially the regional office in Bangkok on developments in Geneva, particularly on the IOMU and relationship and work on the global compact. Of course, thirdly, keen to engage in the consultations, regional consultations in Bangkok and also think a bit about how to connect the regional agenda to the multilateral agenda. Fourthly, very useful to have bilateral discussions with the two countries I visited, Thailand and Indonesia. So that was basically the agenda. I'll make a few brief remarks about the visit, which went from 5 to 8 November. The consultation was, I think, a very useful process. A lot of the key players were there and it enabled me to register some messages from Geneva into the region at a number of events, particularly, I think, the strong support of IOM member states for IOM playing a central role in the compact process and follow-up. But also, I think, the relevance of IOM's model, agile, member state-driven, low-cost problem solving through the wider UN system. I also had a good opportunity to talk to the ASEAN secretariat colleagues who were at the meeting to understand a bit better how the ASEAN processes on migration function. Bangkok, obviously, was an opportunity to talk to Thailand. I had an excellent meeting with the foreign ministry, which strongly supported IOM's partnership with it, and I, of course, raised the privileges and immunities issue as I have with a number of countries. I also had a good discussion with the regional director, Dr. Nanette Motus, about the huge agenda of the regional office. 40 countries, very, very diverse. And also, with Dan Agrabah-Lutladek, the chief of mission briefing on the Thai program, of course, evolving as a consequence of a number of dynamics. I visited a project, a daycare centre run by IOM, which enabled children of parents in the largest immigration detention centre to undertake schooling and also had a town hall meeting with the staff. So a very useful opportunity as well as talking to the regional support office of the Bali process, which is based out of the IOM office in Bangkok. A brief visit to Jakarta, a particular priority was to engage Indonesia and encouraging Indonesia to join IOM, which was a very productive conversation. Also, Indonesia confirmed its strong partnership with IOM. And also, I think, I was able to visit a project in one of the satellite cities of Jakarta in Sepong. Again, accommodation, community-based accommodation, which was very impressive. So a very quick visit, but I think very useful, and perhaps I can just make a few quick observations from those discussions. My impression was morale amongst IOM staff was particularly high and that colleagues in the field were very pleased with IOM's new status as part of the UN. I think they could avoid the long preamble as to who they were and what their organisation did. Also, a very strong message of the field-based culture of IOM, a lot of pride in the fact that the organisation was driven by the field. And I think a lot of interest on the part of staff, on the big picture developments in Geneva, the IOM UN relationship, the Budget Reform Working Group. And I certainly encourage staff in the field to put forward suggestions for reform and adjustment, including how we could connect the regional with the multilateral. So I think the visit in my view underlined the need to hear more from Asia-Pacific countries in Geneva on migration issues, particularly given the region's diversity and its practical approach to problem-solving and sort of huge economic transformation. In that regard, I have a few thoughts, recommendations, suggestions. I think it's important that IOM's regional directors, when they come to Geneva, which is fairly regularly should brief us on what's happening in the various regions, I think we need to hear from them. Certainly, I think case studies from the regions we could usefully take up and learn from each other. We had a very good briefing, for example, on the Crest Program to the SCPF. A lot of interest in that topic. And thirdly, I think the need for greater council bureau engagement in the region and a suggestion I would make is that it would be helpful, I think, for the president or bureau members to visit the regions earlier in their terms. In a way, it does give you a very interesting perspective. So let me finish on that note. I'll be very happy to take questions. Let me also conclude by saying how much I've appreciated your collective support in my role as chair. I'd like to pass on my particular thanks to the distinguished bureau colleagues who've done a great job, of course, the ambassadors, but also their experts and, of course, Director-General Swing, who has constantly been available and very much engaged in our processes. And I think the transparency of IOM is a lesson for other UN agencies. We know a lot about how IOM operates, and that's very much due to Director-General Swing and his leadership. And, of course, the senior staff, Deputy Director General Thompson, Bruce Reed, head of budget who's retiring shortly. And let me pass on our warm appreciation for some decades of distinguished service to IOM and to all of us. And, of course, Johan and Clarissa. So let me thank the IOM team for their support. So I might leave it at that and open the floor for any questions or observations. Thank you for your attention. Any colleagues wish to take the floor on this subject? I see no flags. So I don't know whether you want to comment, Director-General? Please. I'm not sure. Good morning. I'm not sure that this is the appropriate moment, but it may not come later. I just want to take this opportunity on my behalf and that of all of IOM and I hope on your behalf to express appreciation to our outgoing chair, Ambassador John Quinn. He has done, I think, an outstanding job for us. I could cite a number of examples, but I think in particularly the leadership in, I think, basically showing that we really needed to keep the two member state working groups going. One on IOM-UN relations and the one on IOM budget reform. I'll say something about that in my remarks shortly. But I think that's been absolutely critical to the way forward for us. And also his initiative in a draft resolution, which you will be seeing later today, primarily focusing on the global compact and what happens post-global compact. So, Ambassador, dear John, if I may offer thanks on behalf of all of us. Thank you also for the very productive trip that you made. I think, as you're absolutely right, this needs to occur in the early months of a chair's mandate so that they benefit at the outset from the knowledge you gain from seeing the operations of our regional offices, our country missions, our administrative centers, and so forth. Speaking to a lot of our staff, because as you know, most IOMers are in the field. So, thank you once again for a great job. Thank you, Director General. I see the flag of Ethiopia. I apologize. It's a very large room, so if I don't spot your card, please wave it. Ambassador, please, you have the floor, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to add my voice to what has been said by the Director General in recognizing the outstanding leadership that you have been giving to the Bureau as a new member of the Bureau. I have witnessed myself that your experience, your huge experience in this area has benefited a lot, all of us. And being a member for almost three years as a member and then also chairing this Bureau, all of us really value the contribution that you have made in this important area. And I hope that, despite the fact that you are no longer in the Bureau, you will be around here and we will continue to get advice from you. But anyway, as a member, we are missing you. So once again, thank you very much for your leadership. Thank you, Ambassador, for your kind words. And Director General, too, I very much appreciate the sentiments. Philippines, please. Ambassador, you have the floor. Good morning. Thank you very much. This is the first time we're taking the floor. Let us have the honor of conveying our profound thanks to you, Mr. President, for your leadership. It has brought us through a very interesting and evolutionary stage of the development of this very important organization, important to all of us here in this room and indeed to millions of people out there where it really matters. I would also like to say that we're fully supportive. We thank the Director General as well and we are supportive of what he said. We are moving forward. We have to consider the future, the relationship of the IOM with the larger UN, as well as what to do after the GCMs adopted. So on those two points, we commit ourselves to full cooperation and support and look forward to working very closely with the Director General, the IOM, and yourself, sir, even after you step down. Do not forget us. We will not forget you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ambassador, and you can be assured I won't forget you. It's been a very privilege to do this job. I see no cards, so thank you again for those sentiments. I deeply appreciate your support and let me say the collegiality of this particular process. I think it's something a lesson for everybody. It's very much a cross-regional issue, a global issue. It's multi-dimensional, multi-agency. And I think if we can sustain this practical problem-solving, listening as well as talking mode, I think that's going to be very important for the future. So thank you again for your cooperation. Okay. I think we might close that item then and move on to the next item, which of course is election of a chairperson. I'd now like to invite the council to nominate a candidate for the office of chairperson of the council. I'd like to call on the Ambassador to the Spanish Representative of Mexico, Ambassador Socorro Flores Liera. Madam, you have the floor. Muy buenos días. Very good morning, Chairman. We'd also like to associate ourselves with the appreciation and gratitude for the work that you've done. And I have the great honor under this item to nominate Mata Maudas, Representative Chile for the period 2017-2018. Ambassador Maudas has much multilateral experience through a career of more than 30 years in the United Nations system, as well as the government of her country. We think her profile is ideal for presiding over this council in a year which will be very relevant for the future of the IOM and the governance of international migration. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ambassador, for that nomination. And I'd like to call upon the Ambassador for Sweden, Ms. Ronnick, about Madam, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. And I have the honor to second the nomination of the candidate for the office of chairperson just made by my distinguished colleague, Ambassador Socorro Flores Liera. As highlighted by her Excellency, Ambassador Liera, Ambassador Marta Maudas, will bring to the council significant experience and outstanding guidance, which will help further strengthen the role of the council and enhance our collective efforts. I thank the Ambassador for her seconding of the nomination. I'd now like to ask if the council wishes to elect her Excellency, Ms. Marta Maudas, permanent representative of Chile as chairperson of the council. I see no objection. It's so decided. I therefore declare Ambassador Maudas elected as chairperson of the council. Unfortunately, I think as some colleagues may be aware, due to an urgent family matter in Chile, Ambassador Maudas will only be able to join us this afternoon. So I suggest that we now proceed with the election of the rest of the bureau, whereafter I will request the first vice chairperson to take over the chairmanship. Is this acceptable to all colleagues? Thank you for your cooperation. Let me now move on to the election of the other members of the bureau, moving first to the first vice chairperson, then to the second vice chairperson and the rapporteur. I'd now like to call upon Ambassador Sik Wanamati, permanent representative of Thailand, to proceed with the nominations. You have the floor, sir. Chair. Firstly, I'd just like to express the appreciation of the Thai government upon your visit to Thailand and we fully support your endeavours and of course to congratulate the ambassador of Chile upon assuming the chair. So I now have the honour to nominate his excellency, Mr. Nigash Kebre Potora as first vice chair. Ambassador Potora is currently the permanent representative of Ethiopia to the UN in Geneva and to other international organisations in Switzerland and Vienna, as well as ambassador to Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. In his 38 years of diplomatic service, he served as director general for international organisations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, head of the Foreign Minister's office and director general of Asia, Australasia and Middle East and African bilateral affairs and also as ambassador and permanent representative in several countries. Ambassador Potora is well known to all of us in this room and to the IOM as he was the second vice chair in the last 12 months. He is an eminently suitable person for the position of first vice chair person and a valuable asset to the Bureau. I'm also pleased to nominate his excellency, Mr. Karsten Stauer, ambassador and permanent representative of Denmark as the second vice chair. Ambassador Stauer has a long diplomatic career having served in various positions, namely as state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark as well as permanent representative in Geneva and a permanent representative to the UN in New York. He has an extensive background in multilateral diplomacy that will certainly bring added value to the Council's Bureau. Ambassador Stauer was rapporteur of the Bureau in the last 12 months. I am finally pleased to nominate his excellency, Ambassador Evan P. Garcia, permanent representative of the Philippines as rapporteur of the Council Bureau. As a career diplomat in the Filipino Foreign Service, he brings over 30 years of professional diplomatic experience to this post, having served as undersecretary for policy, ambassador and consul in various diplomatic assignments in several countries. Ambassador Garcia is indeed a familiar face to all of us as this is his second posting in Geneva as ambassador and permanent representative. So with his extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy, he is more than qualified to serve as rapporteur of the IOM Council's Bureau. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ambassador, for your nominations. I'd now like to call upon his excellency, Mr. Ramses Joseph Plelland, permanent representative of Ghana to second the nominations. You have the floor, sir. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I have the honor to second the nominations for the Council Bureau members just made by my distinguished colleague, Ambassador Sek Wanamete. Namely, his excellency, Mr. Negash Kebred Botora, ambassador, permanent representative of Ethiopia as First Vice-Chair. His excellency, Mr. Kahnstein, Kahnstein Stauer, ambassador extraordinary and plenty of potential, permanent representative of Denmark as Second Vice-Chair. And his excellency, Mr. Ivan P. Garcia, ambassador extraordinary and plenty of potential, permanent representative as rapporteur. I'm convinced that they will bring their vast and rich experience to the Bureau and help further strengthen its role and guide our collective efforts. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Let me thank Representative of Ghana for his statement. Let me now ask, does the Council wish to elect the two Vice-Chairpersons and the rapporteur as nominated and seconded? I see no objection. It's so decided. Let me extend my warm congratulations to the new Bureau on their election. We'll have a chance to convey our personal congratulations to Ambassador Maris this afternoon. But in her absence this morning, I'd like to propose that the First Vice-Chairperson, Ambassador Botora, now take a place at the podium to take care of proceedings for the morning session. I assume that's acceptable to colleagues. Ambassador Botora, I'd invite you to come to the chair. Ambassador, you've got your flag up. Would you like to intervene? Please. Thank you, Mr. Chairperson. Let me first thank Thailand and Ghana for nominating and seconding Ethiopia respectively to be the first Vice-Chairperson. Allow me also to express our gratitude to all the rest of the member states for their trust and confidence that have placed in our leadership to stay the work of the Bureau at the first Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the Council. We recognize that this is an enormous responsibility in a critical parade to migration and the IOM. It is unique in terms of the enormity and complexity of the challenges of migratory crisis in different parts of the world and mobilizing the required global response at both responding to the immediate challenges and search for better ways to address them. Ethiopia believes that IOM has a key role to play as a leading global agency on migration to better equip themselves in ensuring that migration is conducted in a safe, regular and orderly manner. Considering the immense role of the Council in directing the activities of the organization Ethiopia would like us to assure member states of its commitment and the readiness to discharge its responsibilities in a steadfast manner. Wishing a fruitful term to the new Chairperson and fellow Bureau members to meet me to reiterate our commitment to carry forward the works that we have started with their view to making utmost contribution so that the work of the Council will be a success. I thank you, Mr. Chairperson. Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement and I do apologize. It is a long way down to the last row there but thanks for your kind remarks and certainly I'm sure all of us will be able to make it to the next row. On that note, I think we can conclude Item 3 and I'd now like to invite Ambassador Batorra to take his place at the podium as the Chairperson of the session until Ambassador Maris arrives this afternoon. We'll have a one-minute adjournment. Thank you. We now move on to our next item on the agenda. Agenda Item 5. I invite the Administration to present its status report on outstanding contributions to the administrative part of the budget and Member State voting rights as of 30 September 2017. Document C slash 108 slash 5 slash rave 1. Mr. Bruce who will provide an update on additional payment received since the revised document was issued. Yes. I refer to document C slash 108 slash 5 slash revision 1. Title status report on outstanding contributions to the administrative part of the budget and Member State's voting rights as of 30 September 2017. This paper provides a detailed review of all of the outstanding contributions of Member States for the administrative part of the budget. I'll just refer quickly to paragraphs 1 and 5 in paragraph 1. It says that as of September 30 the total outstanding contributions from 2016 and earlier total Swiss francs 4193,527. This is a slight improvement over previous reports to you. Moving on to paragraph 5. I'll read the first sentence. As of 30 September 2017 16 Member States had lost their right to vote and this compares with about 21 Member States that had lost their rights to vote as of the previous reporting in April. The rest of this report provides a detailed description of the status at September 30. However, I want to update you on the status of payments received since September 30 until this morning. I'll read off the states for the record which have paid contributions since September 30. Bangladesh Denmark Djibouti Guatemala Jordan Solomon Islands Sudan Turkey and the United Kingdom. And in the case of Sudan the payment was sufficient to restore their voting rights. So as of this morning there were only 15 Member States who have currently lost their voting rights due to rears. And the administration continues to work at both the capitals in the country and at Geneva level to ensure payments of the arrears from Member States. Thank you. In the absence of any comments I recommend that the Council to take note and endorse document C slash 108 slash 5 slash rave 1 and additional information on payments received that was provided by the administration. It is so decided. Now we move to Item 6 A application for membership in the organization. I'm glad to inform the Council that we have this morning received an application for membership from Dominica. The administration is currently processing the documents and I would propose that we now proceed with the applications of the Republic of Kaua and Cook Islands and return to the applications of Dominica later in the meeting. Moving on to this next item of the agenda I am now pleased to inform the Council that an application for membership has been received from the Republic of Kaua Cook Islands. I therefore invite the Council to consider the draft resolutions on the application for membership in the Republic of Kaua and the Cook Islands. I declare the draft resolutions adopted and the new members admitted by acclimation. I now give the floor to the United States delegation. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. The United States values our strong relationship with the Cook Islands. We must unfortunately disassociate from consensus on this resolution regarding the Cook Islands membership as per the IOM Constitution members of the IOM shall be states and the Cook Islands is not a state. We nevertheless welcome greater partnership with the Cook Islands on issues of mutual interest. Thank you. At the delegation of the United States you have taken note of what of the statement. Kosarika had the floor. Thank you very much. Indeed Chairman and allow me since this is the first meeting the floor to congratulate the outgoing chair for the excellent work and leadership during his chairmanship and I'd like to welcome Ambassador Maurus and all of the new officers of the council. I took the floor to welcome and commend the delegation of Cuba congratulating them on their joining the organization and the Cook Islands for our region we're delighted that Cuba is joining this family working for orderly migration and we're quite sure that the Cook Islands can also make an important contribution to the work of this organization. These issues always need to be dealt by consensus taking into account all different views and perspectives of the migration phenomenon. Thank you very much. At the time Kosarika and then I'll give the floor to Venezuela. Good morning colleagues. Thank you very much Ambassador and we'd also like to congratulate the new members of the Bureau of the IOM Council we wanted to congratulate the new member states of the organization. In particular we welcome the Republic of Cuba joining as a member of the organization and we're sure that their membership of the IOM will strengthen the work of the organization in the region. Thank you. Thank Venezuela. I declare that draft resolutions adopted the new members admitted by acclimation. I have the pleasure of welcoming the Republic of Cuba and Cook Islands and I have the pleasure to give the floor for the representatives of the new members. The delegation of Cuba had the floor. Very good morning. Thank you very much Chairman. Chairman, Director General Deputy Director General distinguished Ministers ambassadors delegates ladies and gentlemen I'd also like to warmly congratulate the new officers on their elections. I'm very honored to speak today this 108th session of the IOM Council representing the Government of the Republic of Cuba speaking as our country officially becomes a full member of the organization and I to extend our gratitude to the members of the IOM on having agreed to Cuba's request to be a member of this important institution. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank those who have spoken to welcome our country the generous comments of Costa Rica and Venezuela I'd also like to take this opportunity on behalf of my government to extend our gratitude to the IOM for the support that it has provided us on various opportunities where we have had the assistance and seen the cooperation of the organization which have helped to build a strong relationship of mutual trust understanding and respect which has brought us to this momentous occasion. Chairman becoming a full member of the international organization for migration Cuba reiterates its determination to build a close relationship with the IOM and reiterates its willingness to work to try to achieve the IOM's objectives aware of the importance of encouraging dialogue and international cooperation in order to rise to the challenges of the complex growing phenomenon of migration and promoting a better understanding of migration related issues and encouraging greater respect for human dignity and the well-being of migrants. Cuba hopes that its membership with the IOM will give us an opportunity to interact more actively with its member states in order to build and contribute to an open, balanced discussion of migration and its underlying causes. In particular when they are a result of the different levels of development between countries a result of poverty a lack of opportunity the damaging impact of climate change or armed conflict or indeed other causes Today we live in an extraordinary complex world in which migration has become a phenomenon of global scope and consequences and therefore the IOM provides a vital space for dialogue and cooperation which will help states to rise to the challenges of irregular migration and exchange information and good practices in migration management. Cuba is very honored to the IOM family and we will work to help deal with an issue that is universal in nature and has universal impacts and therefore is of common interest to us all we reiterate our commitment to safe, orderly and regular migration. Chairman we all have a moral duty to pass on to future generations a world with fewer inequalities where there are no restrictive measures based on xenophobia no physical or discriminatory barriers facing people simply because of their status as a migrant we need to work together to achieve a world in which the more developed countries honor their commitments and honor their moral commitment to help the development of those who have played a role in building their wealth the mental and physical walls that are today being built do not allow us to protect enough that wealth and they cannot stem the valid aspirations of millions of people who have nothing or who have lost all and simply aspire to a better life in decent conditions together to create this world where there are conditions to provide a dignified life for all and the government of Cuba is committed to those objectives. Thank you. I thank Cuba and now I give the floor to Cook Islands Thank you Rana and warm Pacific greetings to you all the Cook Islands is honored and privileged to be approved as a member of the IOM at this council meeting Migration is an important issue for the Cook Islands and cuts across a number of our national to sustainable development goals and security issues relating to border management and control which include to expand economic opportunities, improve economic resilience and productive employment to ensure decent work for all ensure a sustainable population promoting development by Cook Islands for Cook Islanders and promote a peaceful and just society for all and build effective accountable institutions at all levels the objectives of our immigration policies are to identify and effectively manage the movement of people, of persons who will make a positive contribution to the economic development of our country to establish and promote the renewed legislative mandate to better strengthen and protect the territorial borders of the Cook Islands by facilitating the movement of persons into residents in and departure from the Cook Islands establish and maintain beneficial network relations both domestically and internationally that provide the opportunity and potential for drawing support effectively implementing government legislation and policies we are a small nation with a population of 16,000 people living on 15 small islands and atolls across 2.2 million square miles of ocean whilst isolation protects us to some extent from external pressures it also exacerbates our vulnerability and ability to control all border entries especially by sea in addition the emergence of border security risks associated with organized transnational crime including terrorism are also new threats to border systems as international connections become increasingly more sophisticated in this regard we welcome the opportunity to work with IOM in our areas of interest including co-operation with other member states to design targeted programs and policies that facilitate safe labour migration for unskilled semi-skilled and skilled migrants recognition of the increasing demand for migrant workers in the Cook Islands and the provision of secure resources on maximizing such programs while protecting the rights of citizens providing technical advice in developing or revising migration legislation and other related legal instruments development of effective migration information systems to ensure we deliver accurate data for policy decision making across government machineries access to technical assistance and resource for improving our migration policies oh ok somebody turned the lights out on me ok access to technical assistance and resources for improving our migration policies enhances our ability to become an effective player in our mobile world and recognizing that despite our geographic distance smallness in size and population we are an arrival and departure point for members of the global community I thank you for your attention and for welcoming us into the IOM family and looking forward to working with IOM into the future thank you Thank you Cook Islands it's really an honor and joy it's one of the really happy parts of the council meeting to welcome new members aboard and I'm particularly pleased to welcome the Republic of Cuba and Cook Islands I had the privilege of going to Havana in July of 2016 I had a wonderful visit and very cordially received good conversations pretty much across the board with the government including the foreign minister and we spoke at that time about the possibility and our hope in IOM that Cuba would become a member of IOM we've had an office in Havana for many years we've worked very closely in an entire range of issues particularly in the whole question of assisted volunteer return and reintegration training programs capacity building but I also recognized in talking to the government that we have a lot to learn from Cuba in terms of how you handle humanitarian emergencies and disasters and in the health area so we've already had some technical exchanges in these areas where I think we can achieve still greater cooperation I am proposing and we'll be speaking Mr. Ambassador to you and your government about trying to upgrade our relations further in terms of the office that we've had for a number of years in Havana that we upgraded to include the assignment of an international mission to explore other areas of cooperation in the field of migration so welcome aboard and we're delighted to have you there I've made my visit there in 2016 the first visit I had made since I since I went there in 1990 as part of a negotiating team on the independence of Namibia so it was good to be back I'm also very honored and pleased to welcome into membership Cook Islands as I think number 11 now and the number of Pacific Island states which are members of IOM we're missing two or three and we hope Thale will join us very soon because this is an expanding area we've been working partly of our mission in Australia and partly out of a newly a new coordinating office in Fiji to have more interchange with these important states and we hope to see how we can do more to support you so you can expect a good interchange with us and I hope that at some point I or another senior member of my staff will be able to get out to see you but welcome aboard and thank you very much for joining us I thank the director general for his statement we now proceed to applications for representation by a new observer state I'm pleased to inform the council that an application has been received for representation by an observer state from Kuwait the council will now consider the resolution concerning the request made by the state of Kuwait for representation by an observer I declare the draft resolution adopted and the new observer state admitted by acclimation I have the pleasure of welcoming the state of Kuwait I now have the pleasure to give the floor to the representative of the new observer state Mr Mr President state of Kuwait to the international organization for migration the state of Kuwait has decided to adhere to the international organization for migration as an observer state with the view of taking the basis of its collaboration in the humanitarian work field and exploring additional means to support the humanitarian activities undertaken by the international organization for migration Mr President the ties between the state of Kuwait and the international organization for migration have developed at a fast due mainly to the sincere interest of both parties in the humanitarian work but also to the involvement of His Highness the Emir of the state of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and of the director general of the international organization for migration Mr William Lassie Song an important role played by the office of the international organization for migration in the state of Kuwait under the management of Madame Iman Araiqat Mr President I would like to affirm that the state of Kuwait through its adherence to the international organization for migration as an observer state will commit to all IOM state to act as it has always done in the best service of all humanitarian activities to fully support the goals by the international organization for migration to mobilize all its resources in the service of humanity and as outlined by the UN Secretary General to live up to a repetition as a pillar of a humanitarian work and His Highness the Emir as the leader of the humanitarian action we wish you all a very success thank you Mr President I thank the representative of the state of Kuwait for his statement and welcome this new observer state on behalf of the entire council and I have the pleasure to give the floor to the Director General to welcome the new observer Director General of the floor thank you sir I'm very honored and privileged to welcome the state of Kuwait as an official observer in our organization IOM we have a strong relationship that goes back to the early 1990s it's always been a good relationship it's always been a growing relationship and our office in Kuwait is very active in the entire Gulf Cooperation Council area Kuwait I particularly welcome my friend Ambassador Alganim he's one of those ambassadors who comes to the office he never wants more than 10 or 15 minutes and on his annual visit official visit he always brings financial support from the and we're most grateful for that support the ambassador has been a personal friend and a strong supporter of IOM since the very first day and so ambassador thank you for being here thank you for your marks on the news of the of Kuwait I want particularly to single out the good humanitarian leadership of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait who was singled out by former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the humanitarian leader in his time there he has every year in January for the last four years at least held a pledging conference either for Iraq or Syria or some other country in crisis and he's always raised at least two billion or three billion dollars now this year in January he's holding another pledging conference this time for the reconstruction of the city of Mosul in Iraq so we'll all be in Kuwait again in January to support the Amir in his very good work there so I hope ambassador you will convey our deep appreciation to the Amir and our congratulations on his decision to join IOM as observer obviously we will continue to on our visits to speak about membership but we're very happy to have you today as an observer I think you would want me also ambassador to pay a special word of appreciation and recognition to our very dynamic chief of mission in Kuwait Iman Erekat who is with us today and I'll thank her for all that she's done to bring us to this point so again welcome aboard thank you very much I thank the director general for his statement I'm also pleased to inform the council that applications have been received for representation by an observer from Latin America and Caribbean parliament a male association international United Nations framework convention on climate change joint United Nations program on HIV ads United Nations office on drugs and crime United Nations office for disaster risk reduction United Nations economic and social commission for western Asia partners in population and development the council we now consider the resolutions concerning the requests made by these organizations for representation by an observer please note that the floor will be open to the representatives of these delegations and to the director general at the end of this agenda item or at the end of this morning session I declare the draft resolutions adopted and the new observers admitted by acclimation I have the pleasure of welcoming them I now have the pleasure to give the floor to the new observers in the following order Latin American and Caribbean parliament a male association international United Nations framework convention on climate change joint United Nations program on HIV ads United Nations on drugs and crime United Nations office for disaster risk reduction United Nations economic and social commission for Asia and partners in population and development I now give the floor to Amel association international Mr. Chairman director general swing distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen Amel association international expresses its gratitude and appreciation for the trust in being granted the observer status by the IOM dignity humanity and solidarity are the core values that Amel has based its support during the past 39 years committed to serve devoting their lives to alleviate the suffering faced by migration, refuge and poverty humanitarian support is conducted with the conviction that every person is entitled to opportunities that respect his or her fundamental freedoms and human rights the world is witnessing unprecedented human mobility that urges the need for intensified humanitarian actions at all levels with shared responsibility from developed and developing countries to ensure safe orderly and regular migration migration issues are becoming more complex with the need to further address unsafe migration and development in countries of origin, countries of destination or countries in transition where traits of human trafficking and smuggling are numerous migrants seen as burden need to be viewed as social, cultural and economic opportunities Consequent to the current Syrian crisis Lebanon has the highest refugee per capita where despite its limited resources it welcomed one-third of its population by refugees integrated in society this example of solidarity should be replicated as a model of responsibility sharing among humanitarian actors Amel provided more than 9 million services so far through its 24 centers 6 mobile clinics and branches in Europe and the US through health, education, child protection, empowerment and other the situation of migrants and refugees is explosive and dramatic where NGOs are becoming more essential than ever Amel calls for international community for several actions in moving the agenda forward prevention of conflict to maintain peace cooperation among humanitarian actors equal partnership between countries of the north and the south recognition of the needs of the host community and inclusion of development and durable solutions that aim for social justice Amel in collaboration with IOM offices in various countries mainly the Middle East, Africa and Asia has joint efforts in the support of migrant workers, especially victims of human trafficking this is conducted to increase protection of victims through capacity building, provision of services repatriation, return and reintegration in home countries among policy efforts with governmental organizations Amel looks forward for continuous collaboration with IOM to achieve mutual humanitarian causes in supporting migrants and refugees trying to make this world a better world. We thank you again for the trust and confidence. Thank you. I now give the floor to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Mr Chairman, Director General Excellencies Distinguished Delegates Thank you very much for admitting the United Nations Convention on Climate Change Secretariat as an observer to IOM. It's a great pleasure for me to be here today at IOM Council especially after serving more than 25 years in IOM administration. As many of you know, I have recently migrated from UN Migration Organization, this organization to the Climate Change Secretariat Today I'm representing the United Nations Secretariat for Climate Change based in Bonn in Germany and I provide brief comments focused on three points, Mr Chairman. The first is human dimension of climate change. When we talk about climate action which has become a buzzword in climate change narrative what we are talking about are the impacts of climate change on people and climate migration is one such example of how the daily life of people is directly affected by our changing environment. There is growing evidence that many people are directly migrating due to impacts of their environment. 24.2 million people were newly displaced by sudden onset disasters in 2016 within their own countries and 4.5 million new displacements associated with disasters in more than 76 countries in territories in first half of this year alone. The onset events also displaced people such as the drought in Horn of Africa that displaced 700,000 people in Somalia and triggered cross-border forced migration to Ethiopia and Kenya. In addition we also have very strong evidence to indicate that migratory trends due to climate change and environmental degradation will continue to rise in the future. Promoting climate action means that we ensure that we do not lose sight of human dimension in climate change discussions and negotiations. My second point it's about IOM and UN Climate Change Secretariat partnership and collaboration. IOM has actually been an observer to the UN convention on climate change and contributed to each climate change conference the so-called COP since 2007 advocating for inclusion of migration and now working on implementation and climate action following the Paris agreement. I recognize with great appreciation that IOM has made alone or in partnership with other organizations over 40 technical submissions to the secretariat since 2008 organized over 30 events in relation to human mobility at climate conferences and IOM's director general Wang has attended in person 5 climate conferences including the last one in Bonn. It was a great pleasure to see you sir there. I strongly believe that the expertise of both organizations can be put to good use to support policy work across the board to address the impacts of climate migration. More concretely joint programming can help address impacts of climate migration in countries most vulnerable to climate change. And that is through production of primary data on its analysis of issues in terms of climate migration at the national and regional levels including capacity building and training for policymakers from relevant policy domains on the basis of existing IOM's capacity building programs and finally also to hold policy dialogues at all levels both regionally and globally. Such an approach would be valuable contribution to the global climate action agenda that will be a priority for the years to come. That was also a major decision at the last COP two weeks ago in Bonn. I also believe that IOM and UN climate change conference should also strengthen communications that will provide visibility to climate migration stories which can be brought to the COP24 next year that will be hosted in Poland. My third point is about human dimension of climate change in the context of global migration compact on migration. As you all know Paris Agreement and climate change anchors migration issues in climate policy agenda. Good progress has been made within climate change policy community to recognize that migration is related to the adverse effect of climate change. However, it is now time for the migration policy community through the work on the global compact to recognize climate change and environmental degradation as important and key drivers for migration so that safe and regular pathways for migration can be developed. We have an opportunity with the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration to do so. The future of climate migrants relies just as much on the effectiveness against climate change as on the availability of migration opportunities. In this regard the Paris Agreement provides a good example of how global compact on migration can be developed further as a voluntary agreement that would be helpful to the global community. UNFCC becoming an observer to IOM and through continued joint efforts will enable integration of climate change and environmental factors in migration policy and practice and I personally would be willing, would be ready to work with IOM taking this initiative forward and strengthening our close collaboration in partnership. Thank you very much Mr. Chair. Thank you. Joint United Nations Program on HIV AIDS at the floor. Good morning. UN AIDS is honored to join this board as an observer and I would like to thank you for this opportunity. The partnership between UN AIDS and IOM has been a long standing one and has helped address the specific vulnerabilities of migrants and in developing programs that address HIV related prevention, treatment, care and support services that address the needs of migrant populations. Through this participation on this board we look forward to further strengthening this partnership. Migration can reduce people in situations of heightened vulnerability to HIV and has been identified in certain regions as an independent risk factor for HIV. In the majority of countries undocumented migrants face complex obstacles such as lack of access to healthcare services or social protection. Social exclusion also leaves migrants highly vulnerable to HIV. Social, economic and political factors in both the country of origin and destination countries influence migrants' risk of HIV infection. Migrants often face conditions in their host countries that make them vulnerable to acquiring HIV. Further violating their rights through compulsory testing and treating them as criminals with detention and deportation is traumatic. This experience is compounded by the stigma and financial consequences of being deported to an HIV positive status. Migrants often cannot access HIV services and broader health services including for tuberculosis hepatitis and other health related services and face difficulties in accessing prevention services if they are HIV negative and treatment care and support services if they are living with HIV. Migrants rarely have the same entitlements as citizens to insurance schemes that make healthcare affordable particularly if they are undocumented. Undocumented migrants who were receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV may experience treatment disruptions due to detention pending their deportation and may face difficulties in accessing the same treatment regimen in the country to which they are returned. Stigma, discrimination and social exclusion have made it more difficult to provide health services to migrants. Migrants who are living with HIV endure a double stigma for being migrants and for being HIV positive. This hinders their access to HIV prevention care and treatment services. Furthermore, migrants whether documented or not may face significant challenges in accessing mechanisms of redress in relation to discrimination or abuse. The 2016 political declaration on HIV and AIDS makes a special reference and commits to address the vulnerabilities to HIV and the specific healthcare needs of migrants and mobile populations and in addressing stigma, discrimination and violence. UN AIDS and IOM are working together to renew the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding that will help further strengthen this partnership. We look forward to working closely with IOM and its member states and constituencies and contribute to take these important discussions and to contribute to these important discussions. Thank you very much, Mr Chair. Thank you. I now give the floor to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Excellencies, distinguished Council members, ladies and gentlemen. Firstly, please allow me to express UNODC's sincere appreciation to you, Director-General, and to the Council for having positively considered our application. It is a privilege for UNODC to be accredited with official observer status and I would also like to extend my sincere congratulations to our fellow new observers. UNODC views this status as an opportunity to further enrich the bonds we already share with IOM through engagement in joint efforts over many years at a technical assistance level and in the interagency context. This cooperation was formalised in 2012 through the conclusion of an MOU and our common interests were once more highlighted when IOM joined the UN system. Currently, IOM and UNODC cooperate on a number of initiatives including the global action to prevent and address trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, a joint initiative by the EU and UNODC being implemented over four years in partnership with IOM and UNICEF. We also collaborate through the interagency coordination group against trafficking in persons and the global migration group. IOM and UNODC share a mutual desire to address the challenges of migration and solidarity of partnership. As the Guardian of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the protocols against trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, UNODC works to support member states in their efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. However, these are complex issues that demand multi-stakeholder responses and cannot be addressed by anyone, actor, function or community alone. UNODC expresses our sincere appreciation to the work of IOM being undertaken on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration and underlines our commitment to engage throughout the process. In doing so, we will be continuing to call for an agreement that is rights-based, gender and age sensitive, ambitious and forward-looking, while also complementing existing international normative frameworks to combat transnational organised crime. We also stress the need to draw as many responders as possible into this process to shape practical and priority actions on migration for the global compact and beyond. IOM's programs and activities in the field of migration are of great interest to UNODC and we are always looking for opportunities to build a closer relationship with your organisation. UNODC is honoured to take our place at the 108th session of the IOM Council. Please be assured of our ongoing commitment. Thank you. Thank you. I now give the floor to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Thank you, Mr Chair. Director General, Deputy Director General and Distinguished Delegates. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is grateful for the positive consideration given to its application to be integrated observer status at the IOM Council and looks forward to actively contributing to the deliberations of the Council. Migrants can be particularly exposed to disaster risk due to their vulnerability and the likelihood to live in areas with deficient or non-existent infrastructure and services and in low quality and fragile dwellings. And their movement may have been forcibly determined by disasters and adverse effects of climate change. The Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction recognises the importance of disaster risk reduction measures in the context of human mobility and displacement. It recognises migrants as a positive force and calls for the engagement in reducing disaster risk. It is important for instance that disaster risk assessments take into account migrants including through relevant data collection. That migrants have access to risk information and early warning systems. That migrants and displacement patterns are taken into account in the development of national strategies, policies and plans for disaster risk reduction. And that national migration policies take into consideration disaster risk. The development of the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration represents an important area of collaboration. Indeed, managing disaster risk is a critical component of ensuring the safety of migration reducing its forced elements and increasing its voluntariness. As such, the compact is a significant opportunity to address the disaster risk of migration by integrating measures including of a transboundary nature to reduce disaster risk including climate risk and the risk of disaster displacement. IOM is an important partner in reducing disaster risk and is actively engaged in the implementation of the UN plan on disaster risk reduction for resilience which was adopted by the UN chief executive board to provide a more effective and coordinated support to countries in the implementation of the Sendai framework. IOM's work in disaster risk reduction is commendable and UNISDR looks forward to continuing and further strengthening the partnership. Thank you very much. Thank you and I will give the floor to the UN's new observers for their statements and welcome them on behalf of the entire council. And I have the pleasure to give the floor to the director to welcome the new observers. I'm very honored and pleased to welcome all of the new observers and let me just make a few statements in welcoming each one of them. First of all to welcome the Lebanese Association for Popular Action AMEL Association International as an observer in IOM. We share I think some of the same core values of dignity, humanity, solidarity. We've been very honored to be a partner with you in trying to support and assist and protect the 1.5 million Syrian refugees currently on the in Lebanon a country of 4.5 million. This is in addition to the 500,000 Palestinian refugees who've been there for many years. So we've been doing this together for the past seven years and it's been a great honor to work with you on that. I think we sometimes forget the sacrifices and the generosity of the four neighbors of Syria not to speak of the six neighbors of Libya who over many many years at great cost to their economies and their societies have accepted refugees and migrants crossing out of a crisis area. So I think that our joined efforts have helped to leave some of the suffering of many of the refugees and the IDPs and our future activities I'm sure will continue in providing that support. So welcome very much to IOM. The United Nations framework convention I'm very grateful to have our former chief of staff and good friend Ove Sarmad with us coming here as the assistant secretary general of the UN framework convention on climate change and wish to offer congratulations to you and to the USG and the entire UNFCCC team for a very successful COP 22 in Bonn which I was privileged to take part in was really a wonderful performance by everyone as you indicate and I'm glad to see that you also like three points very pleased to see that we are collaborating so closely both in publications in exchanges and we both recognize that climate change will increasingly be a major driver of forced migration some of the Pacific Island countries are actually buying land in other larger land masses to take their people when the one meter sea level rises so adaptation is going to be very important when I went on my first assignment to Africa in 1963 we flew over Lake Chad and I had been asleep and I looked out the window and I thought we were flying over the ocean I came back in 1992 on my way as ambassador to Nigeria and people were building permanent dwellings in the bed of Lake Chad so we should be under no illusions climate change is upon us so we're looking forward to going even further in our relationship with you and I know that our new migration and environmental climate change division the MECC and IOM will be in very close with you particularly on publications we've just published the first environmental migration atlas one is very much to welcome the statement and welcome into of our neighbor across the street the UNAIDS thank you very much we're honored to have you here please give our very best regards to your dynamic leader Michelle we are particularly concerned to address the vulnerability of migrants in the area of AIDS HIV AIDS and generally in the health area as you mentioned I share your views entirely about the vulnerability of migrants and the lack of access to health facilities one can say that migrants are coming to take advantage of public health services that may be true but I believe it's in the national interest that they have that access because otherwise you'll have unhealthy migrants making unhealthy communities so I think it's a lot more we can do together and I'm really looking forward to working with you in this new relationship there are a number of countries who have opened up their public health services to migrants very freely free public health services I think of only two Thailand of course for some time and more recently under the new policy of opening Mohammed VI in Morocco so we commend those and others who are opening up public health services I want to also welcome and congratulate our colleagues at UNODC for the membership here we work very closely with UNODC through its office in Vienna particularly under the Palermo protocol in the three areas of prevention prosecution and protection we all know that the weakest area is prosecution and so I come every year to your councils there to learn what more we can do in this area as you mentioned your leader, my good friend Yuri Fedotov and I signed a memorandum of understanding in 2012 we think that that has brought us a long way forward and we're looking now at an annual consultation once in Vienna once in Geneva and we will continue to work closely with you trying to bring to justice criminals and smugglers in all fields not just drugs and guns but also in human trafficking and finally I believe this was the last one who spoke our colleagues at UNISDR thank you for reminding us of the important SINDI framework agreement for disaster risk reduction that we all witnessed in SINDI Japan in March of 2015 this is a very important step forward it links up very well with the new prevention agenda of the Secretary General and I think that will be a whole new area we can work in your mandate is directly related to reducing risk for migrants who as we know in disasters are generally invisible because nobody has registered them they don't figure in anyone's protection plans or development plans so we want to work with you in reducing that vulnerability so let me with that close and thank you all for coming and welcome to IOM General for his statement we now proceed to item 7 of the agenda and I have now the pleasure of keeping the floor again to the Director General for this report Director General of the floor 108th session of our council I welcome you on behalf of our 10,000 staff on all five continents around the world in about 480 places let me begin by expressing sincere appreciation to all the members of the IOM Council Board the outgoing Chairperson Ambassador John Peyton Quinn of Australia the first Vice Chairperson and incoming Chair Ambassador Marta Maurras who will be with us this afternoon from Chile the second Vice Chairperson Agashe Kebret Boutara of Ethiopia and the Rapporteur Ambassador Karsten Starr of Denmark who will be with us this afternoon let me also say how pleased you are to welcome our newest member states Republic of Cuba Cook Islands and somewhere in the course of this week, Dominica when the paperwork is completed as well as our new Observer State Kuwait this brings our total number in place to 100 with Dominica 169 and eight Observer States 44 member states more than in 2008 bringing us closer to our goal of universal membership of 193 in addition we're honored and pleased to welcome the non-state observers and five UN agencies bringing the number of UN agency observers to 32 a member state-owned body this being the case and as the senior elected official of this organization I come before you each year at this time to present a personal status report on how I and the administration I lead have conducted the business of your organization on your behalf over the past 12 months as a detailed account of this has been distributed to you as a full report I won't go into that but when I arrived in 2008 the director general always made a statement I felt it didn't fit with my principle of member state ownership and I said no I should be reporting to you here's what I've done tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like and we'll try to make the corrections so that's the way we're proceeding now for this morning in order to be brief I want to do two things I want to try to set the scene and I want to talk a little bit about the some of the initial thoughts for the future when we last met here a year ago since then there's been a series of global developments that have accounted for the use of much of our time and energy and your resources let me just enumerate a few of them we now have eight level three humanitarian emergencies the highest emergency level of the UN and an all-time record number this includes IOM's role in Bangladesh in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis the color outbreak in Yemen and nine armed conflicts from West Africa to the Himalayas record setting number of natural disasters on almost every continent where migrants are often disproportionately affected and upsurge in identity politics fueled by politicians who sometimes espouse fear of the other which both endangers migrants and denies economies and societies the contributions that migrants are there to make growing and intensifying anti-migrant anti-refugee sentiments which some are using to evoke fear of multi-ethnic societies and some of which attempt to expel generations old ethnic groups of their own as is tragically occurring at this very moment in Myanmar on a more promising note IOM has been deeply immersed in an effort to support the special representative of the secretary general for international migration Louise Arbor who will be with us here in just a few minutes and as appropriate we try to support the two co-facilitators from Mexico and Switzerland and the president of the UN General Assembly who will also be here in just a few minutes these are consultations designed to lead to negotiations on the 1st of February on a global compact for safe, regular and orderly migration our efforts are in fulfillment of the role we were given by the New York Declaration of modality's resolution namely to jointly service the negotiations with the UN secretariat so in carrying out this responsibility we've done a number of things including providing staff to the office of the SRSG to the president of the general assembly participation in the drafting of the papers for the six informal thematic consultations and through our network and through the processes around the world we have strongly encouraged national consultations and many many countries have done this we've also engaged an independent full-time civil society consultant to ensure that civil society's voice is heard we've held a global meeting here of all 21 regional consultative processes we turned the international dialogue on migration into a discussion of the global compact in Geneva and we brought together 35 of the world's leading scholars to give us their best thinking on migration and the volume they've just published will be launched tomorrow in a side event here in the Palais so the transition then to being a UN agency has overall gone smoothly and without much surprise we were already largely in the UN any adjustments we've made have been easily offset by very positive advantages we now have a seat at the table a voice in the dialogue we now have access to information and funding which we did not have before we are widely respected, more widely respected more frequently cited in and by the media and being asked to take on more and more responsibility than before joining the UN the branding positioning and marketing of IOM however is going to be an ongoing challenge given the complexity of migrants, migration the fact that migrants come in so many forms and given the toxic atmosphere in which we have to operate in all of these regards your decision as member states to keep these two member state working groups going the UN and the other one on the budget has proved to be very prudent and I thank you for that it's come increasingly clear to me that IOM is coming into its own as an organization the one characteristic that perhaps most accurately describes where IOM is today it is that of growth and you will see it on the charts coming up on your screen here you have grown in every area phenomenal growth in number of projects number of staff number of member states all reflected in a global and continuing expansion we are currently within the UN system number five in terms of staff number eight in terms of budget and I think most proudly number one in terms of lead on the ground we have 97% of our staff in the field not here in Geneva we want to keep it that way we are also very proud of our business model whereby our administrative costs always remain consistently around 3-4% of our budget and that I think is the proper use of your hard-earned resources also as we grow we are assiduously and with purpose consolidating by adding structure and architecture to IOM for example a quantum leap in training and career development but still far too little an entire series of meetings of thematic resettlement return media resource and other specialist activities of interest and overall a spree to core regular meetings of our management and policy committees the rotation program that I initiated in 2008 is now firmly implanted in the minds of everybody as part of one's career and working to the advantage of both organization and individual our biannual chief submission meeting and in the off years senior management retreats are working well we're still determined to achieve our policy objective of gender and geographic balance we've made some progress the trend is positive but I must admit we're still far far away from our goal we'll need your help on that and your prodding keep the pressure on us finally a couple of frontier issues for the future number one post global compact follow up what sort of mechanism will be required to ensure implementation of the shared responsibilities to which I hope that we will agree in December 2018 how can IOM be helpful in the post global compact period second area policy we've been producing large volumes for many years especially in recent times but the stereotype of IOM is still that we are primarily an operational agency we can act but we can't think far from the truth but we have to continue to show that we are a policy organization it's an outdated image our policy development capacity is perhaps too little known publicly so what we have to do in my view is to start planting the seeds that will make it clear we're also a policy organization probably starting with the establishment of a policy unit within the office of the director general that could become eventually a department for policy planning depending on what the new administration would want data and trends analysis in the same vein IOM tends to ensure that we become and remain a major source for migration statistics and analysis thereof the creation of our displacement tracking matrix now used throughout the world and by many U.N. agencies the establishment in 2015 of the global migration data analysis center in Berlin with the German government's assistance and the creation of our internal data steering group all designed to demonstrate our policy capacity as a leading migration data source thank you for the technical assistance very good timely structural reform it's now nearly a decade since I initiated the last structural reform upon assuming mandate in 2008 this has led to the creation of nine adequately staffed and resourced regional offices thematic specialist on a range of migration aspects management and policy committees four headquarters departments and senior regional advisors a review of the structure was undertaken in 2014 found to be working more or less as we thought it should be working however time has passed we now need to review that sometime in 2018 I would say two more final points and I'll close the final point is the Secretary General's reform program as you know he's looking at serious reforms in three areas peace and security development and management all three to one degree or another we have implications for your organization we will be following those very closely and I have had briefings both in a two-day retreat led by the Secretary General in New York and I've had four or five hours of briefing by the Deputy Secretary General here in Geneva and I will continue to keep you informed about these reforms through the IOMUN working group and the implications of those reforms for our operations one final point and I will close the vast majority this is the question of a renewed focus on internally displaced persons IDPs they're not in either compact neither compact for refugees or migrants they're absent and yet they are the largest group of vulnerable people that we have by far so for example in Syria, Libya Iraq, Yemen all of which I visited recently most of the work we're doing is with IDPs and we are among the largest actors on internal displacement globally and one of the few with an operational footprint long before doing and well after a crisis so much of next year will be focused on the global compacts and we will be focused on the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the guiding principles on internal displacement so I think bolstered by the framework on internal displacement last June and as the only organization that I know of whose constitution actually mentions displaced persons we expect to have a major role in this area thank you very much I thank the director general for his very comprehensive report please note that the copy of the director general's written report in English is available at the document counter the French and Spanish version will be available as soon as possible delegates wishing to comment on the report are invited to do so in the general debate or under the respective agenda item if the comments refer to government it's going to be at 4pm this afternoon so the item 7 is now concluded we are greatly honored this morning to have not one but two leading personalities in this whole field of migration we have on my immediate left the president of the U.N. General Assembly for the session honorable foreign minister Leitschek who's been a friend of IOM's for many years I've made at least two visits to Bratislava and he's always received me and always been very supportive of what we're trying to do here and has taken a particularly strong interest in migration I remember when he announced his objectives for the session I think at least number two on the list was migration also honored to have here another strong supporter and friend someone well known to you who was here in Geneva for a number of years as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights federal judge in Canada who's done many things I want to enumerate all of them here but I'm delighted Madam SRSG welcome you here again you've been here before to help us to brief us and we're looking forward to you and the president bring us up to date on where we stand on the global compact and where it goes from here so welcome to you both thank you very much thank the director general for his welcoming statement I also have the great pleasure and honor to welcome to the council session his excellency Mr. Muroslav Leitschek president of the 72nd session of the general assembly you all know his excellency very well prior to his election on 31st May 2017 Mr. Leitschek served three terms as the minister of foreign affairs and European affairs of the Slovak Republic and also deputy prime minister of his country Mr. Leitschek has also a long diplomatic career representing both the Slovak Republic and the international community on different posts 1994 at the age of 31 Mr. Leitschek was appointed as ambassador of Slovakia in Japan the youngest ever foreign ambassador serving in Japan Mr. Leitschek was a key figure in the mediation of the post-conflict crisis in the western Balkans serving as a representative of the European Union and the human and security policy Mr. Ravir Solana and a high representative of the international community and EU special representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina being one of the main architects of Bosnia and Herzegovina's landmark stabilisation and association agreement with the European Union Mr. Leitschek also helped shape the newly formed diplomatic service of the European Union and external action service in addition, he served as EU's chief negotiator for the association agreements of the EU with Ukraine and Moldova and was EU's representative for the 5 plus 2 talks on the transition settlement process his excellencies international engagement started in 1999 when he served as executive assistant national secretary general special envoy for Bosnia Mr. President of the General Assembly we are honoured to have you here today to address the IOM Council Your Excellency, you have the floor Thank you Mr. President for your introduction, good afternoon Excellencies, distinguished delegates and colleagues, I want to thank Director General AC Swing for inviting me to address you today My thanks also go to Ambassador Queen of the International Organization for Migration Council along with Ambassador Mauras as outgoing chair for their work and commitment furthermore, I want to acknowledge the valuable work being done by special representative Louis Arbour and Deputy Director General Thompson we are meeting here in Geneva the headquarters of the international organization for migration I think it is fitting to reflect what migration means for our world in doing so I want to point out something we have never lived in a world without migration there are different theories about how humans came to be on this planet one thing we can all agree on however is that we have always moved we have always migrated this has happened in response to the circumstances around us migration is part of our humanity it would not be possible to make it disappear nor should we want to it has enriched our society it has allowed composers artists and writers to advance their crafts it has seen researchers and scientists explore new terrains in exchange ideas towards groundbreaking ceremonies it has influenced and enriched cuisines, cultures and languages without it our world would be a lot less colourful however while migration is as old as we are how it is happening is new the planet is now home to more people and when there are more people there are more chances that these people will move and migrate in fact there are now 244 million international migrants in the world another development which has affected migration trends is technology information and communication technology is changing every part of the migration process from the decision to move to a life in a new community what we are currently grappling with is how to react and adapt to these new trends we have done some good work but we need to do better and I want to make 4 main points today in this respect first we had a major achievement this came through the adoption of the new york declaration for refugees and migrants in 2016 this was a first and major move towards international action in response to the changing nature of migration and it was the first concrete step towards the kind of global framework we badly need because migration touches everything the journey of an international migrant is made across national borders every country every community and every person has experienced migration in some way it is a truly global phenomenon and we have a body which is set up to address global phenomena the United Nations it defies logic therefore that we have been trying to address migration on our own at national level in an ad hoc way to guide our international cooperation but we already know this and that's why last year we came together to say no to business as usual that's why we adopted the declaration that's why we committed to negotiating and adopting the world's first international compact on migration and that's why we need to do even more I want to focus my second point on the need to do more and to take action the New York Declaration was a big achievement it was a bold and visionary commitment by all countries in the world however it is still not enough aspirations must become actions promises must become realities commitments must become results we will need to find more pathways for regular migration and tackle causes of irregular migration we will need to ensure that women migrants are protected and empowered to participate in finding local solutions we will need to address the special needs of migrants in vulnerable situations we will need to fight against human smuggling we will need to dismantle cultures of stereotypes and xenophobia and replace them with tolerance and integration we will need to ensure that everyone who lives his or her home enjoys the same human rights as everyone who doesn't we will need to make difficult structural and institutional changes none of this will be easy which is why none of us can go it alone this brings me to my third point on partnerships one person may decide or be forced to live his or her home everything that happened afterwards however involves a multitude of other actors and entities I'm talking about the crew on board the airplane or ship the law enforcement official at border crossing the first person to stamp a passport or record personal details the recruiter aiding in the search for a job placement the clerk who facilitates the transfer of money to family back home the neighbors in a new community our response must therefore involve coordination not only among national governments but with a wide array of other partners at national, regional and international level these include local authorities civil society faith-based organizations the media regional organizations international financial institutions and the private sector a partnership must be present throughout this process from negotiations to implementation we cannot call for a whole of society approach but settle for some of society inclusion instead we cannot stress the need for participation from everyone while only listening and engaging with a few we cannot call this a global compact unless it will touch upon each person an entity involved in international migration around the world finally for my fourth point I want to stress that IOM will be one of the most important partners of all the decision made in 2016 to integrate IOM into the UN system was a significant step it paved the way for the organization's experience and expertise to enhance the United Nations capacity to assist and protect migrants to support member states in addressing migration and to promote coherence between migration and related policy domains so the international organization for migration is uniquely positioned to strengthen the United Nations approach to international migration IOM will also be crucial as we begin to negotiate the global compact in 2018 not only because of its years of policy making and advocacy but also because of the work it has done on the ground with people we need people to be at the forefront of all of our discussions we cannot measure migration only by laws and policies and regulations it should instead be measured by the people it affects because before people are migrants they are simply just people they are engineers doctors musicians fathers children young people they have the same hopes and fears as those who have not left their homes and importantly they are entitled to the same fundamental human rights throughout these 400 locations IOM interacts with these people every day it has heard their stories and it has brought them to the international stage we will therefore need the help of IOM in ensuring that we put people first in all of our negotiations we can start here at this annual council session I'm pleased to hear that IOM will co-lead along with the UN's food and agricultural organization the global migration group during the negotiation process next year I also want to call today on you, on IOM to play a role in updating Geneva-based UN member states on the negotiations process this will help to ensure that Geneva is adequately informed and that it can play an active role throughout the process even when negotiations are taking place elsewhere Excellencies, dear colleagues I want to conclude by acknowledging that we do not have an easy task ahead like many of you, I'm a career diplomat so I know all too well the challenges facing us I know that many of us will arrive to negotiations with rigid instructions I know that some of us will be requested to pair back language or mark out red lines and I know that there will be late nights in the office as we work towards an agreement that is inclusive effective and politically important however, we must persevere simply because we have no other choice our response to today's trends of international migration is not working it's not working for governments and it's not working for people migration is a global phenomenon and a global phenomenon demands a global response led by a global framework the United Nations this first hand it has risen to the challenges before it has led the drafting and implementation of international responses to almost all of the most pressing global issues from disaster response to the promotion of human rights it is time for the United Nations to lead the charge towards a global response to international migration however it can only do this if we let it if we don't we cannot criticize the United Nations we will have only ourselves to blame I thank you for your attention I thank His Excellency the President of the General Assembly for his important statement I now also wish to welcome Madam Special Representative for International Migration Miss Louise Arbor you all know very well Miss Louise Arbor appointed by Secretary General of International Migration in March 2017 in this capacity she leads the follow up to the migration related aspects of the 19 September 2016 high level segment on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants and works with the Member State and other stakeholders to develop the first ever global compact on safe orderly and regular migration Miss Arbor has a long distinguished career in international affairs having previously served among others as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda Madam Special Representative thank you for being with us here today and you have the floor Thank you Mr. Chairman Members of the Council of the International Organization of Migration Your Excellency President of the General Assembly Mr. Miroslav Leitschak Director General Swing Deputy Director General Thompson Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to address you briefly today It's a great pleasure for me to be here and I look forward to the continued dialogue that we've started months ago and that have occupied us so intensely in these last few months We are at an important moment in the calendar by which we are to realize a global compact on safe orderly and regular migration The formal consultations are over Next week in Mexico United Nations member states will reflect on discussions to date and shape the way forward towards the adoption of the compact Early next year the Secretary General will issue his report on migration as mandated by the General Assembly This will serve as his principal input into the zero draft of the compact which we can expect to be tabled by the end of January following which the formal negotiations will begin Now before I turn to what lies ahead, let me pause to reflect on the environment in which our deliberations are taking place I think it should be abundantly clear to all of us by now that safe and orderly migration is unlikely to happen spontaneously If more evidence was required the last few months have also made clear that we are still very poorly equipped to address the extreme vulnerabilities of many people on the move Meanwhile our consultations over the same period of time have brought to light the enormous opportunities that migration represents and how increased international cooperation will actually allow millions of people in origin as well as in destination countries to harvest its benefits Hence the importance of this process and the responsibility we all share to bring it to a successful conclusion Since one assumes the compact will not be legally binding its success will rest on the extent of states political and moral buy-in and the broader support that it will generate As such, the compact should contain specifics for early concrete action It should lay the ground for intensified cooperation at all levels and it should provide means by which to gauge progress But the compact cannot be and actually should not be the end point Just as human migration has always been with us, so it always will be The global compact should aspire to be a living document forward looking flexible and adaptable I would like to take this opportunity to share some reflections about some of the key challenges that the global compact will need to address and what this might mean for the United Nations system as it seeks to support the implementation of the compact as effectively as is required Ladies and gentlemen I will focus my comments on three obviously non-exhaustive points First I'll look very briefly at what do we mean by global What do we mean by vulnerable in the context of migrants and what the compact might mean for the United Nations system including for IOM Now when we talk of a global compact I would suggest that this objective global captures a few key aspects of migration First that viewed globally the overall story of migration is a positive one This recognition was a singular achievement of the New York Declaration and I think it should be built upon Second that migration is truly global occurring within and between all regions neither a unique privilege nor a unique burden to anyone alone And third that despite migration being global different regions face different migration dynamics whether in labour market needs demographic trends development environmental, political and other factors each state will have its own perspective on where the emphasis of the compact should lie And the same is true within countries as cities and regions have different needs and will experience migration differently Hence the importance of being attuned to all these perspectives and incorporating the needs of local communities among whom migrants reside Fully understanding the breadth, depth and multi faceted aspects of migration's global nature will be essential to developing the cooperative framework that must encase the compact This understanding will better highlight the convergence of interest among and between states rather than positioning migration's challenges in confrontational terms Let me now turn to the critical question of the vulnerability of migrants Whether it's acute or less so many people who migrate experience some form of vulnerability As they lose the primary protection of their home state they face the challenge of settling in even if it's only temporarily a foreign environment often facing language barriers and at times discrimination and even hostility We must bring clarity to our policy response to situation of vulnerability of migrants In fact, some migrants are inherently vulnerable I think children represent the clearest example of this Women also face situations of vulnerability often actually very severe but not akin to those of children, as women also share with men competencies and resilience that discrimination obscures The compact must therefore address the gender dynamics of migration including both the remarkable contributions made by women migrants and the appalling circumstances in which they are often exploited and abused Migrants in general can be rendered vulnerable by the situations in which they find themselves This is most apparent in the case of large movements of populations often of mixed migrants and refugees It's also the case for irregular migrants in general whether those on the move or those living and often working in situations of irregularity But even regular migrants can be made vulnerable most acutely perhaps as a result of xenophobia or prejudicial labour practices So in helping to ensure that migration is brought more squarely within the remit of the rule of law and by that I mean the rule of just laws then the global compact will need to help us understand and better confront these various strands of vulnerability Ladies and gentlemen, the global compact will be judged on its ability to deliver results to migrants, to those they leave behind to the host communities and to states keen to maximize migrations opportunities while overcoming its challenges The Secretary General is determined that the United Nations system will play its part as necessary in moving towards that end Expertise and capacity on migration is currently atomized in the United Nations system This can be seen in the size of the global migration group some 22 UN entities as well as in the decision last fall to bring IOM one step closer to the UN system as a related organization It can be seen to in the inter-governmental level where a variety of fora and governing bodies engage on this issue While it would be premature for the Secretary General to pronounce on how he intends to position the system to support the global compact until its contents become defined he will clearly insist on situating any such response within the overall context of his management and development reforms, his conflict prevention agenda and above all the 2030 agenda He will insist too that in responding to member states needs and in seeking to uphold the rights of all, particularly the most vulnerable Emphasis should be placed on results on the ground and on operational and policy capacity and expertise in a spirit of efficient cooperation rather than in a rigid assertion of mandates and competition for resources For IOM the same questions also loom central what will the global compact be and while we await with keen anticipation and many of you of course will be engaged in shaping that outcome one thing is clear IOM will have a central role to play in bringing the compact to life In the coming weeks and months I would urge you to reflect and engage on how best to position IOM moving forward As soon as the compact starts taking shape we will need to examine whether our collective institutional framework is sufficiently fit for purpose If the decision for instance to make IOM a related organization was a reflection of the need to bring it closer to the UM how has that worked What further initiatives could we take to enhance the performance of the system as a whole while strengthening the role that IOM should play within it This organization IOM is on the front line of many migration related issues Others in the United Nations systems have complementary capacity expertise and experience whether in demographic research and analysis on labor issues in the development sector on human rights on combating trafficking and smuggling and the like The challenges and opportunities ahead of us are immense It's within our power to equip ourselves to address these issues in a smart effective and principled way Actually it's within your power to do so You can count on my unwavering support and that of the Secretary General As together we seek to ensure both the strongest possible compact and the most determined and coherent efforts to realize its fullest possible implementation Thank you very much Mr. Chairman For an important statement I now have the pleasure to give the floor to the Director General Thank you very much Mr. Chairman Let me start by warmly thanking His Excellency Miroslav Lacek the President of the United Nations General Assembly and her Excellency Ms. Louise Arbor the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for International Migration I would like to thank you for taking time out of extremely busy schedules and traveling once again another trip to be with us and to share their thoughts with us So I can only say that it would be very presumptuous of me to try to add anything to this All I can do is perhaps recall a few things and look ahead a bit But I think we've been given a very rich diet here that brings us fully up to date And I do like our two distinguished speakers plan to go to Puerto Vallarta somewhere over this weekend The points I would make simply are that I think we should be encouraged that we did in October We had the burn initiative We had various committees and commissions from the UN looking at this whole question This all brought us a step forward each time 2007 was a monumental year It was the decision by the Secretary of State that deserves enormous credit for where we are right now and our salutations and best wishes go out to Peter The same year also established the Global Forum on Migration and Development We're now in the 10th iteration Getting ready to go to Morocco in December of 2018 for the 10th of the year brings people together in the PGA are doing that we will come out with something very good A second point would simply be I think that we're all concerned about migration and a number of people being forced to leave of all of the people on the move whatever their category are protected with that we're quite optimistic that progress we're grateful for the convergence that we've seen in the consultation process and we're optimistic about being able to deal with the divergencies we will not be able I don't think to solve all the issues in this process but we'll have enough of a shared understanding and shared responsibility that we can move forward and keep the dialogue going I think Mr Chairman you won't open the floor I believe for your statement I now open the floor for comments and questions at the time available it's limited and to allow for an interactive exchange I will ask speakers to keep their intervention brief now the floor is open now I give the floor to Sweden Thank you Mr Chair and thank you very much to the panelists it's been three very fruitful thought provoking intervention we can implement anything but as was said earlier this is something that we have journeyed that we have been on for quite some time with the different parts that the Director General pointed out the role of the RCPs but also the Global Commission and International Migration that was one cornerstone in this I would like to mention I think that the consultative meetings that have been held are one in Geneva on the institutional framework and I think that was reassuring from a lot of member states that we want to see IOM in a leading role and I think that needs to be taken into consideration of course there are other important organization in this and all those mandates need to be taken into consideration but I think also from the EU perspective we would like to see IOM have a leading role in the implementation of the Global Compact in close coordination with other relevant EU and agencies and bodies and I think this also goes to the question that the SRSG mentioned about effectiveness in the implementation so IOM is the global migration organization with field presence globally so I think this is one thing that I just wanted to point out thank you thank you Sweden Germany you have the floor thank you Mr Chairman Germany highly appreciates IOM's role in the different processes leading up to the adoption of the Global Compact for safe orderly and irregular migration within the UN system should be streamlined and coordinated with the aim to support the implementation of the GCM while each organization should be able to contribute according to its specific expertise it remains of paramount importance that the UN speaks with one voice we explicitly want to emphasize IOM's role as the global lead agency on migration IOM would be well positioned to render institutional support in specialist advice to the implementation of the GCM therefore Germany will take a great interest in a prominent role of IOM in the course of the GCM negotiation process and in the follow up to its adoption thank Germany and now I give the floor to Chile thank you very much indeed Chairman and at the outset I'd like to thank the panelists for the very interesting statements on this issue of the Global Compact which is a central issue of our work in our country one of our key focuses for foreign policy like many other speakers here I believe very firmly that this is a historic opportunity the Global Compact to deal comprehensively with the challenges and opportunities of international migration and that's why we hope that the outcome of the process will be the reflection of a commitment to migration management and people centered migration management with regard to what the panelists have said it's true that commitments need to be correlated into results and we hope that this Global Compact will mean dialogue processes follow up and monitoring processes because the commitments that member states are given need to be followed up on and we hope some of these processes will take place in Geneva because many of the states are represented here and that will be complimentary with the presence of a number of international representatives here dealing with issues connected with the migration including IOM of course as the Global Lead Organization for Migration which must have a central role in that architecture that process so we're very much looking forward to the Special Representative and the Secretary General sharing that vision those aspects will be reflected in our national position and they will be part of our proposals during the next stages of the process towards the Global Compact thank you Thank you Chile EU had the floor Thank you very much Mr Chairman we would like to thank you the President of the General Assembly the Director General the SRSG for their statements and also for providing impetus to this work I speak on behalf of the European Union and its member states the European Union is very much committed to the process leading to the adoption of a Global Compact for Migration next year any outcome must be people centered human rights based and taking into account the challenges and benefits of migration for all we aim for a robust balanced outcome to strengthen cooperation between countries of origin transit and destination this needs to be built upon the principle of responsibility sharing we support the work of the SRSG as IOM to achieve this goal the Global Compact should aim at providing long term sustainable and comprehensive solutions for the benefit of all enhance and facilitate return and readmission and recalling states obligation to readmit their own nationals the European Union and its member states already contribute to the strengthening of international cooperation under the partnership framework on migration the future Global Compact for Migration should set up a dedicated follow-up and review mechanism of the implementation of the action oriented political commitments in line with the following general principles it should be of a non-legally binding nature an efficient light and responsive process and based on the framework of existing UN fora at not lead to the creation of any new structure the policies and partnerships implemented by the EU over the years such as the European Agenda on Migration are examples of modern and effective policies finally we reiterate our strong support for IOM's leading role on migration in the follow-up and review process of the Global Compact we must make best use of IOM's policy and technical expertise in this regard the GCM process is a collective effort and we call on all our partners to contribute to its successful outcome thank you very much Thank you Thank you very much indeed Chairman France supports the statement made by the European Union we welcome the participation of the chair and the special representative of the UN Secretary General on International Migration this provides us the opportunity for a very useful exchange of views just a few days before Puerto Valleta and I thank them for their support to IOM and throughout the negotiation process over the past few months the Puerto Valleta process should help us identify the ways of strengthening migration processes, ensuring safe, orderly and regular migration with respect for international law France hopes to play an active role in that as it will do in the next part of the process in 2018 trying to focus on a number of key elements strengthening cooperation with respect for the principle of responsibility the chair of responsibility between transit, destination and countries of origin human rights and their enjoyment by migrants irrespective of their status, taking into account the needs of the most vulnerable and the promotion of an approach designed to encourage regular migration combating trafficking in migrants and humans which put their lives and rights in danger we believe that the global compact should be non-legally binding document proposing a clear framework for the international community to respond to the current challenges connected with human mobility so that that can be a long-term process and so that we can measure progress and so therefore we need a key follow-up process and that should be within the framework of the United Nations consistent with the relevant mechanisms and agencies and we need to make the most of current dialogue frameworks and the expertise of IOM as the global lead agency for migration IOM has a clear central role to play in the follow-up process after joining the UN family in 2016 the new role will help to strengthen global migration governance which is of course one of the key objectives of the global compact itself thank you thank you France Philippines you have the floor thank you again Mr President we will be taking the floor in the general debate so just briefly we cannot let this moment pass without conveying our warmest thanks to our General Assembly President and to our SRSG for their important contributions which we take to heart and we should consider what they have said as a call to action to rally all of us to ensure that starting at the Puerto Vallarta stock taking we are able to give more concrete shape to our discussions in attaining the GCM and its objectives but beyond that we are much taken by the observation of the SRSG that the GCM will not be the end of the process so we have to have half an eye on questions of implementation and on the final point we must also keep in mind the words of the General Assembly President that the human being should be the center and start and finish of all these efforts Thank you Philippines for being very brief I hope others will follow your lead and now we give the floor to Bahamas do we have in the room the ambassador of UK so I give the floor to United Kingdom Thank you Mr Chair the UK aligns itself with the statement of the European Union I would like to thank the President of the General Assembly and the special representative of the Secretary General to give us this very helpful update and outlook on the development of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration we are grateful to you both for recognizing that migration is an issue which needs New York and Geneva to work seamlessly together the United Kingdom would like to see a global compact on migration which offers an effective global framework to ensure that migration is safe, orderly, regular and responsible in line with our commitment in SDG in Geneva thereby reducing irregular, unmanaged and risky migration success would be the outlining of a clear and credible vision of migration within the existing rules based international order recognizing that both states and migrants have rights and responsibilities the compact provides us all with an opportunity to set out in one place what a well managed global system of migration looks like and the policy and operational mechanisms required to deliver it the UK believes that a global framework for managing migration should be based around the three principles laid out by our Prime Minister at UNGA 2016 one, the international community must help ensure refugees seek asylum in the first country that can offer protection two, we need to improve the ways we distinguish between refugees fleeing persecution and economic migrants and three, we must maintain the right and obligation of all states to control their borders the compact could also lay out measures to facilitate well managed migration where significant global consensus already exists and inclusion of these areas in the compact would increase the likelihood of them being implemented in the short term for more innovative ideas such as the UK's interest in expanded biometric identification the compact will help bring these ideas to a global audience it is also an opportunity to reduce vulnerabilities of migrants including prevention of human trafficking and modern slavery and for all countries to commit to fully implementing existing legal frameworks which protect fundamental human rights for their own citizens and for migrants the UK believes that any mechanism or arrangement for follow up to agreements reaching the compact should be a light touch monitoring mechanism fit within existing UN governance structures and not lead to the creation of any new structures ensure member states have regular expertise for inputting into the process and have an appropriate role for the IOM taking advantage of their introduction into the UN system and the IOM's policy and technical expertise as recognized in the compact modalities I would like to express UK's appreciation to IOM for its work on the global compact on migration so far and express our hope and expectation that it will continue to serve member states needs in whatever role the compact determines for it as the leading organization on migration. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you UK. I give the floor to Costa Rica. Thank you very much Thank you very much indeed Chairman and allow me to take the floor briefly now even though my delegation will take the floor in due course to refer to other issues during the general debate but I wanted to take this opportunity nonetheless to extend my gratitude to the president of the GA and the SRSG for having shared their views with us and for their leadership on these issues clearly the global compact is a challenge for multilateralism and for those who see migration as a global phenomenon that requires global solutions and that requires global leadership that global leadership must be based on an inclusive state led process all of us here need to play an active role in the international community in this process in order to try to seek consensus I think that is probably the most important thing to underscore so I think it's important to recognize that this is a process where we are going to need to build partnerships with all other sectors as well including civil society and the private sector I'd like to underscore something that both speakers today have mentioned very clearly which is that the global compact isn't the end of the process it's simply one step in this process and clearly afterwards we'll have to see implementation of all of the commitments that we undertake to and my delegation would like to stress that it's vital to recognize the very important leadership role that the IOM will have to play in this respect and I'd just like to assure you of course that we get a commitment to that IOM leadership and we will do everything we can to ensure that we go compact as a success so IOM will be playing its key role as the global lead agency and in implementation thank you Thank you Costa Rica, Mexico you have the floor Thank you Thank you Chairman, I'll be very brief but I wanted to thank the President of the GA and the SRSG for having come here today to talk about their work today and we will make more specific remarks in the context of the general debate however some of the elements that the SRSG mentioned with regard to what we need to think about and the role of IOM in bringing added value to all of these efforts and to be reflected in the global compact RACs that we need to deal with IOM has a unique experience in the field of migration and is one of the organizations in the UN family who deals with many of the related aspects to international migration the consultations phase leading to the Boat of Ayates meeting has been very useful, very enriching, very open-ended with excellent participation and we hope that in Boat of Ayates we will be able to transform those general understandings into specific commitments and activities where we identify very clearly the key role that IOM can play in this regard so thank you very much for your remarks and for coming today we'll say a great deal more in the general debate, thank you Thank you Mexico Thank you speakers please I would like to appeal to make your starvation very very brief as we have only 10 minutes before we conclude this session and I'll give the floor to IFRC to chair and thank you to this distinguished panelists I will try to be very short I just wanted to say that earlier this month the World's National Rec Cross and Rec Crescent societies gather together with the IFRC and the IFRC for our bi-annual statutory meeting the discussions over those several days were strongly overshadowed by our alarm at the humanitarian crisis affecting vulnerable migrants in many parts of the world to address that we adopted a call for action on the humanitarian needs of vulnerable migrants the compact should be an opportunity to ensure that the safety and dignity of all migrants is at the center of our discussions and this cannot be done if we do not recognize and directly address the extreme levels of vulnerability of all migrants both in countries of transit and destination we therefore call on states to guarantee that all migrants have access to humanitarian assistance and protection irrespective of legal status and that their rights are respected we also ask that migrants are able to access assistance provided by national rec cross and rec crescent societies and other humanitarian organizations we therefore hope that this talk taking meeting in Puerto Vallarta and prioritize these asks thank you very much thank you thank you in order to effectively ensure safe orderly and regular migration and be true to the New York Declaration the global compact must recognize that all migrants regardless of status are entitled to the full range of human rights respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights in the context of migration is the right thing to do but it is also the only way to do things right indeed only a migrant center the human rights based and gender responsive compact will be truly able to define what safe orderly and regular migration means it will also facilitate effective and sustainable migration governments ensure social inclusion and guarantee alignment with the overarching aim of the 2030 agenda to leave no one behind to be clear, human rights are not mere abstract principles to be included in preambles, rather they provide authoritative benchmarks for the development of meaningful and practical commitments for action human rights should be at the center of the discussions over the next year so that we can achieve a compact that is both principled and practical the OSCHR led global migration group principle and guidelines on migrants in vulnerable situation demonstrate precisely how states can operationalize existing human rights commitments for instance they provide guidance to states on how to translate the normative content of migrants right to health the precarious and unsafe conditions in which migrants are compelled to travel, live and work, the existing discriminatory health systems, the criminalization of migration and the high prevalence of violence including sexual and gender based violence at all stages of migration are all factors the severely endangered migrants physical and mental health there is an urgent need to ensure that the migration governance respects protects and fulfills migrants right to physical and mental health concrete measures should be put in place among them implementing firewalls to protect the assets of all migrants to health moving away from immigration detention and abolishing the detention of children providing information on health at all stages of the migration process and putting in place mechanisms of identification and referral of victims of sexual and gender abuse, violence, torture and other severe human rights violations the office of the eye commissioner for human rights called for the integration of the right to health as well as whole human rights across all parts of the global compact on migration thank you thank you the last speaker parliament Latin America you have the floor thank you chairs the parliament to assembly of the Mediterranean actually thank you again to the panelists valuable updates the development of a global compact for safe orderly and regular migration is a necessary precondition for ensuring the effective management of the migratory phenomenon and the parliamentary assembly of the Mediterranean is perfectly aware of this in this regard two weeks ago our assembly organized in cooperation with IPU and the parliament of Malta a conference on the promotion of better regional cooperation towards smart and humane migration across the Mediterranean the event was attended by some 170 delegates including parliamentarians from 26 national parliaments from Africa and Europe representatives from governments United Nations specialized agencies IGOs and civil society many recommendations were made I will mention just a few firstly and most importantly the need to address the root causes of migration secondly the need to ensure that migration as it occurs is voluntary and safe with migrants rights duly protected the importance of parliamentary initiatives to ensure the effective national ratification and implementation of the various international conventions concerning migration governments as well as the protection of migrants and refugees was duly reiterated we also stress the need for international cooperation and adoption of global standards policy frameworks as well as parliamentary cooperation and solidarity on all aspects of migration in light of this the parliamentary assembly of the Mediterranean will participate and contribute to the UN preparatory meeting of the international intergovernmental organizations for the adoption of a global compact on migration which will take place next week in Mexico more over next year our assembly will also organize in cooperation with the Pan-African parliament a conference on the nexus between security and migration in the Mediterranean thank you for your attention thank you our now request kindly our distinguished guest to respond to the question raised from the floor first I will give the floor to His Excellency the president of the General Assembly thank you very much and I want to thank you all for your comments which are very important for us especially at this point as we are preparing for our stock taking the meeting in Puerto Vallarta I was taking good note of what was said here and I will only react to one point that was raised by a number of delegations namely the support for the leading role of the IOM in the process of implementation for the global compact let me stress that this will be your decision, decision of the member states therefore it's important that you make your positions heard and be known and especially now because I believe that this is something that will be a topic at our discussions in Mexico so it will certainly be taken into account thank you very much thank you Mr. President Mr. Borja of the floor thank you Mr. Chairman I certainly want to echo the reaction and the remarks of the president of the General Assembly and also stress that I'm extremely encouraged by the level of engagements that member states have shown so far for this process of enthusiasm going into the Mexico meeting and I think the emphasis that has been placed on the need for a compact that will be implementable and putting in place appropriate measures for its early implementation as Director General Swing pointed out earlier we have a long history and I think the most disappointing outcome of this process would be if it yielded nothing more than another expression of intent and declarations I think the time has come for something that will that will be operational immediately after coming into effect so I look forward to seeing many of you in Mexico and of your further engagement on this question of institutional support for the compact when we see what the compact actually seeks to deliver and a very robust implementation process. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Arbol. I wish to thank our esteemed guests for this morning's very fruitful exchange this morning session is now coming to an end this afternoon at 15 hour we will resume with item 9 draft report on one 7th session of the council item 8 is concluded the meeting is adjourned thank you