Harare – Zimbabwe held national consultations in Harare on Wednesday (11/10) to provide inputs the country’s inputs in the on-going negotiation process on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). The meeting was a follow up to the Government stakeholders’ consultation on GCM held in Harare, in March of this year.

Participants included Government ministries with a migration function, UN agencies, civil society organizations and the private sector. The consultation localized migration dynamics to the Zimbabwe context to seek a solution-based approach that reduces vulnerabilities and empowers migrants. Participants explored aspects of migrant vulnerabilities from a policy, cooperation and practical perspective.

“The Global Compact presents an historical opportunity to achieve a world in which migrants move as a matter of choice rather than necessity, through safe, orderly and regular channels, and in which migration is well governed and able to act as a positive force for individuals, societies and States,” said Lily Sanya, IOM Zimbabwe Chief of Mission. “Through the consultations, Zimbabwe has to reflect on its migration experience and realities and come up with context specific inputs that feed into the international migration governance framework,” added Sanya.

Ambassador David Hamadziripi, Director of Multilateral Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also the Chair for the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration (IMCM), challenged participants to prepare concrete recommendations and guidance for the national representatives who will attend the Stocktaking meeting in Mexico at the end of 2017. A Stakeholder Technical Working Group to consolidate the input from the consultations has been set up following the Zimbabwean meeting.

The Global Compact presents a unique opportunity for the international community to move away from reactive approaches to migration governance, and to determine the steps to be taken to reach a common future in which migration is safe, orderly and regular.

For more information, please contact Gideon Madera at IOM Zimbabwe, Tel: +263 4 704285   Email: gmadera@iom.int