GFMD closes with unanimous agreement on migration treaty
At least 130 countries of the world unanimously agreed to have a global treaty on migration for better protecting the migrants, a global phenomenon that is increasing rapidly in the globalised world.
“We talked in a way so that the treaty becomes legally binding or in the form of SDGs [sustainable development goals] where countries voluntarily own the responsibilities to achieve the goals,” Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said at a press briefing today.
“Such a consensus is historic,” he said as the chair of the ninth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), concluding the three-day summit in the city’s Bangabandhu International Convention Center (BICC).
Bangladesh placed the proposal of Global Compact on Migration at the UN summit in New York on September 19 this year. It is scheduled to be adopted in 2018 after series of consultations beginning early next year.
Shahidul Haque said the delegations, including from the Middle East, have endorsed the various problems the migrants face and agreed on having the global treaty on migration.
He presented the summary of the three days’ deliberations from some 600 delegates, including ministers, UN and government officials, and over 200 civil society members.
The global treaty will have provisions to protect rights of migrants in any form -- regular or irregular -- and maximise the development benefits of migration, Shahidul Haque said.
Employers and recruitment industry delegations were also present at the programme, where they agreed on the global compact.
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