Beirut, 25 September 2017 (Communication and Information Unit) – ESCWA, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the League of Arab States (LAS) have joined hands to organize the Regional Consultation on International Migration in the Arab Region on 26-27 September 2017 at the UN House, Riad el-Solh Square, Beirut.
The consultation will bring together a crowd of regional and international personalities such as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCWA Mohamed Ali Al-Hakim; Ambassador William Lacy Swing, Director General of IOM; Louise Arbour, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration, and Secretary-General of the Intergovernmental Conference on International Migration; Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations and Co-facilitator of the intergovernmental consultations and negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The LAS General Secretariat will be represented by Enas El Fergany, its Director of Refugees, Expatriates and Migration Department.
Objectives and priorities
The Regional Consultation, which starts at 9 am on Tuesday 26 September 2017, aims at enhancing Member States’ and other stakeholders’ awareness of the global process leading to the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration; discussing key migration issues, priorities and challenges in the Arab region, which Member States would like to see considered in the Global Compact negotiations; and building a common understanding of the importance of the Global Compact as a framework to address the Arab region’s and Arab countries’ priorities in the area of international migration.
Given the priorities and specificities of the Arab region, the consultation will focus on six themes through four main sessions on decent work and labor mobility; protection of migrants in vulnerable situations; migration and development, remittances and links with the Sustainable Development Goals; International cooperation and migration governance.
The Media institutions were invited to the opening session and the plenary session after the opening, which will be held under the title: “The general context: The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the regional consultations.” This session aims at presenting the general context on the international and regional cooperation and paving the way for discussion by presenting the most important drivers and patterns of migration in the Arab region. It will also identify ways to strengthen dialogue and partnerships between governments and civil society organizations.
The ESCWA Communication and Information Unit (ECIU) kindly requests media representatives wishing to cover this meeting to confirm their attendance on the following number in order to facilitate their access to the UN House: 0096170993144
For more information:
Nabil Abu-Dargham +961-70-99 31 44; dargham@un.org
ECIU email: escwa-ciu@un.org
For more ESCWA news, please visit:
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Ahmad Aleraqi and Farah Abdul Sattar, Communication and Information officers: +9617677103
E-mail: fabdulsater@iom.int – aaleraqi@iom.int
IOM regional website: rocairo.iom.int
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