Cairo, Egypt, 3 December 2019 - Under the auspices of the Working Group on International Migration in the Arab Region, the co-chairs of the Working Group - the League of Arab States (LAS), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa organized a Regional Conference on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Implementation and Policy Implications for the Arab region.

The two-day conference kicked off today and aims at providing the Arab States, and other stakeholders a platform to identify national and regional priorities, to share experiences and key achievements in implementing the Global Compact for Migration and to explore priority actions for the future.

In her opening remarks, IOM’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Ms. Carmela Godeau encouraged States to “involve the civil society, local authorities, host and migrant communities to complete their national implementation plans for the Global Compact.” She also renewed the organization’s commitment to support States in their implementation of the Global Compact.

Ms. Enas El Fergany, Director of Refugees, Expatriates, and Migration Affairs Department, General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, highlighted that “The developments taking place in the Arab region pertaining to migration issues require strong coordination and cooperation between all stakeholders, in order to maximize the benefits of such phenomenon and minimize its potential negative effects. She also encouraged the League of Arab States’ Member States to contribute actively to the follow-up and review forums of the GCM at all levels.”

On the progress of implementing the GCM in the Arab region, Ms. Karima El Korri, Chief of the Population and Social Development Section ESCWA drew the audience’s attention to the promising steps taken by several Arab countries towards migration policies which are aligned with the principles and objectives of the GCM. She also highlighted the long way ahead to ensure that migration works for all.

Participants to the meeting included representatives of governments from the region in addition to representatives of UN Agencies, civil society organizations, academics and experts in the field of migration.

The Regional Conference will be followed by a one-day Capacity Building Workshop on Migration Governance in the Arab Region on the 5^th of December 2019, where the UN family and Civil Society organizations will share some solutions they can offer to support Arab countries in their implementation of the objectives of the GCM. The workshop will conclude by a group discussion where participants will identify the potential priority actions to be implemented as well as means to ensure proper monitoring of the GCM implementation.

For more information, please contact:

• Ms. Kristina Mejo, Senior Regional Policy and Liaison Officer, IOM, kmejo@iom.int
• Ms. Valeria Bankoova, Population and Social Development Section, UN ESCWA, valeria.bankoova@un.org  
• Refugees Department, Emigrants and Migration Affairs, General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, aemigrant.dept@las.int