displaced persons

International Migration Review Forum

The quadrennial International Migration Review Forum (17-20 May 2022) will be hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly. It consists of four interactive multi-stakeholder round tables, a policy dialogue, and a plenary. It will result in an intergovernmentally agreed Progress Declaration.

An informal interactive multi-stakeholder hearing, hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly, will take place on the day immediately preceding the Forum (16 May).

Register here: un.org/en/migration2022/register

View the full agenda: un.org/en/migration2022/agenda

*Side events will take place outside of the official conference hours of 10 AM – 1 PM and 3 PM – 6 PM.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP

Understanding Public Attitudes towards Migrants Beyond Polarization

Dear GMPA network,

To mark the 2021 International Migrants Day, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) – in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European University Institute (EUI) are glad to invite you to participate to the event Understanding Public Attitudes towards Migrants Beyond Polarization, taking place on Friday 17 December from 14:30 to 17:30.

By discussing the challenges related to an increasing polarized debate about migration and migrants, the event will offer the opportunity to illustrate the E-MINDFUL project that OCEEA, ILO and EUI are implementing jointly. Concept Note and draft programme herewith enclosed for further information.

Addressed to delegations of the OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, the ILO’s constituents, key stakeholders, experts, civil society representatives and academia, the event will be organized in blended format, combining online participation via VTC Zoom with limited in-person access to the OSCE Hofburg premises in Heldenplatz, Vienna, Neuer Saal.

The working language will be English. 

Kindly register by sending an email to Magda Jugheli: Magda.Jugheli@osce.org before Wednesday 15 December. When registering, participants are requested to indicate if they will participate at the Hofburg in Vienna, or virtually via zoom.

Looking forward to your participation.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.

World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day 2021 focuses on the power of inclusion.

The shared experience of COVID-19 has showed us that we only succeed if we stand together. We have all had to do our part to keep each other safe and despite the challenges, refugees and displaced people have stepped up.

Given the chance, refugees will continue to contribute to a stronger, safer and more vibrant world. Therefore UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s World Refugee Day campaign this year is calling for the greater inclusion of refugees in health systems, schools and sport. Only by working together can we recover from the pandemic. Together we heal, learn and shine.

Background

Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons:

Refugees

  • A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.

Asylum Seekers

  • Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.

Internally Displaced Persons

  • Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.

Stateless Persons

  • Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country. Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.

Returnees

  • Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home.

To learn more about how/why the UN commemorates this observance, including how the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol helps protect refugees, explore un.org/en/observances/refugee-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

Race and Ethnicity in Migration

We invite you to join the second discussion in a series of five global webinars that cover key themes and mobilize civil society around the world.

The webinar will take the form of a global civil society discussion on race, ethnicity and discrimination in the context of migration, proposing both a global outlook and a closer look at some regional and national specificities.

This series will mark the start of an extended global civil society process highlighting priorities on the ground and bringing to light ambitious interpretations of the Global Compact for Migration and states obligations under it. This will be the beginning of an extensive and inclusive civil society mobilization culminating in the International Migration Review Forum.

Register here!

Jointly organised by 7 Global & Regional Civil Society Networks; Migrant Forum Asia (MFA), the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), the Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM), the Civil Society Action Committee (CSAC), the Alianza Americas, the Climate, Migration, and Displacement Platform (CMDP) and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)

Don’t miss the upcoming events of the Civil Society Priorities Webinar Series:
  • Regular Pathways and Irregular Migration (4 May)
  • Detention and Return (11 May)
  • Climate Change and Migration (18 May)

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.