Sixty-second General Assembly

Plenary

101^st Meeting (AM)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY POSTPONES CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTION ON PROCESS

ESTABLISHED TO BOOST POLICY IDEAS IN MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT FIELD

The General Assembly decided this morning to postpone consideration of a draft resolution concerning the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the informal State-led process set up to enhance inter-State dialogue and promote new policy ideas in the field of migration and its interrelation with development.

Acting on the request of Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union) and with the agreement of Mexico, one of the main sponsors of the text, the Assembly postponed until next week action on the largely procedural draft resolution (document A/62/L.25/Rev.1).  Among other things, the text would have had the Assembly take note of the first meeting of the Global Forum, held in Brussels last July under the auspices of the Government of Belgium, and the offer by the Philippines to host the second meeting in Manila in October 2008.

Slovenia’s representative, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the world today was marked by globalization and significant demographic change, resulting in unprecedented international mobility.  Consequently, the need for dialogue on migration and development had become very important, and the necessity for discourse was even greater because the topic was so sensitive.  Member States had previously worked hard to find the “subtle balance” enabling steps forward.

She said that, while the draft before the Assembly addressed an important step in the field -- the first meeting of the Global Forum –- it failed to represent the wider United Nations membership’s view of the Forum.  The Assembly’s decisions deserved the widest possible consensus and the European Union, therefore, regretted that the co-sponsors of the text had not engaged the Forum’s three main conveners in finding a constructive solution.  While requesting a one-week postponement, the European Union pledged its willingness to engage in open and transparent consultations on the basis of the current text.

Following that, Mexico’s representative reminded that Assembly that the draft had been under discussion in various forums since last December and the negotiation process had been open and inclusive.  Nevertheless, Mexico and the other co-sponsors, in a constructive spirit and an effort to demonstrate additional flexibility, accepted that consideration of the text be postponed until next week, with a view to attracting even broader support for it.

Given the importance of and interrelation between migration and development, he said, the co-sponsors were convinced of the need to enhance international discussion of the issue and continue the Forum’s informal dialogue.  The co-sponsors welcomed the decision by participants in the Forum to include the human rights of migrants as a topic in future meetings, and stressed that full respect for those rights and freedoms was vital to any efforts to address comprehensively the broader issue of international migration and development.

The Global Forum is an outgrowth of the Assembly’s 2006 High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, where some 140 Member States discussed the global implications of migration and the mutually beneficial interaction between migration and development.  The Secretary-General invited all participants to consider establishing a global forum that would permit States to continue a sustained policy dialogue on migration and development within a proper structured framework.  Subsequently, a large number of delegations expressed their interest in continuing the dialogue by means of an informal, voluntary State-led forum.  Belgium took the initiative to organize the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, held in Brussels from 9 to 11 July 2007.

The General Assembly will meet again at a time and date to be announced.

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For information media • not an official record