On the invitation of the International Committee and the Maghreb Local Organizing Committee of the PGA (Peoples’ Global Action), representatives of civil society from various regions of the world (sub-Saharan-Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, the MENA region and the Maghreb) gathered on June 21 and 22 in Agadir.
Those civil society actors, human rights activists, trade unionists or representatives of migrants took stock of the process leading to the development and adoption of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) in Marrakesh in December 2018.
This meeting was particularly aimed at preparing the PGA that will take place alongside the Marrakech Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).
The process started in 2017 and intended to give civil society the opportunity to contribute to the elaboration of the Compact.
The subsequent drafts of this Compact, have generated numerous debates and raised strong concerns among civil society actors. Concerns that they have not failed to repeatedly voice throughout the process.
Civil society participants wish to highlight that the different revisions undermine the rights of migrants and constitute an attempt by the global North to impose its security-oriented approach.
In this regards, participants in the Agadir meeting would like to highlight the following concerns:
• The convention on the rights of migrant workers and their family as well as the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions should constitute a pillar of the Compact in the same line as the International Declaration of Human Rights.
• The Compact must clearly denounce all forms of detention based on legal status.
• The insistence on the differentiation between regular and non-regular migrants throughout the text leads to violation of fundamental rights.
• The right to decent work for all migrants, regardless of status, must be affirmed in the Compact.
• The right to mobility and free movement of persons must also be affirmed in the Compact.
In addition, participants wish to raise concern that development aid continues to be used by donor countries in this compact as leverage to impose their national interests. In this respect, they call on the South to adopt a firmer stance in defending the interests of their people.
These concerns are unfortunately reinforced by the tragic news (particularly in Europe and in the United States) in a context of increasing xenophobia, racism and populism.
In view of the Marrakesh Summit, participants continue to consider all of these points as minimum conditions and strongly urge that these concerns, expectations and proposals be heard and taken into account during the final revision.
To this end, they also call on civil society actors in all its diversity to mobilize and make their voices heard.
The Marrakech PGA will be a moment for civil society to evaluate the process and position itself in light of the latest developments.
Agadir, 22/06/2018
Participants in the PGA preparatory meeting
Secretariat:
Forum des Alternatives Maroc
45 rue Abidjan, N°3, 1er étage, Océan, Rabat, Maroc
E-mail: 2018pgamaroc@gmail.com
Tél: +212 537 70 59 27/29
For Europe :
Plateforme Euro-Marocaine MDCD – Emcemo
Eerste Weteringplantsoen
2c 1017 SJ Amsterdam – The Netherlands
emcemo1@gmail.com
Tél. : 0031 2 04 28 88 25
