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The 2008 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) was the second of its kind after the 2007 meeting in Brussels. It is the largest and most important intergovernmental meeting on migration and development, hosting more than 160 national delegations. Numerous international organisations were equally present, but only admitted as observers. Next year’s forum will be in Athens, Greece.
As opposed to last year’s 1-day civil society event, the 2008 GFMD featured a 2-day meeting of civil society representatives (including international organisations, academics and NGOs) that preceded the government meeting. This meeting allowed for the preparation of a civil society view on key issues of the migration-development nexus (the programme of the civil society days mirrored the one of the government meeting).
The Development Centre at the 2008 GFMD
The migration team of the OECD Development Centre presented a paper on "Migration Management: Policy Options and Development Impact" (access the paper). Our presentation stimulated a lively debate, which—although constructive and noteworthy—failed to touch upon the core messages that the Development Centre tries to convey; namely how migration can contribute to social and economic development in both sending and receiving countries. Most civil society representatives define development in terms of “human development”, which reduces the debate on the migration-development nexus to improving migrant rights.
Nevertheless, several points and key policy recommendations of the Development Centre were included in the final conference report (access the report), namely a call for governments to:
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consider the benefits of migration while resisting the temptation to cut migrant numbers in light of current economic circumstances
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recognise the need for complementary migration and development policies (i.e. development assistance should not be used as a tool to enforce migration policies)
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ensure structured dialogue between government entities dealing with migration, including ministries of immigration, labour, foreign affairs, and justice, and between the law enforcement, executive, and policy-making branches of government
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coordinate how best to structure dialogue and cooperation between relevant international agencies
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