(Cairo – 23 May 2023). The Regional UN Network on Migration in the Arab Region held the first meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Advisory Group (RSAG) in Cairo.

The meeting aimed at offering a space to exchange information and knowledge among relevant stakeholders on the progress, challenges, good practices and lessons learned in the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) across the Arab region. 

Comprised of 10 members, the Advisory Group will play a catalytic role to help the United Nations expand outreach to stakeholders, including civil society organizations and migrant organizations in the region ahead of the upcoming GCM Regional Reviews in 2024.

“The launch of the Regional Stakeholder Advisory Group is one of the crucial steps taken based on the lessons learned from the first four-year cycle of the implementation, follow-up and review of the Global Compact,” said Othman Belbeisi, Regional Director of IOM, the Coordinator of the Network, in the MENA region.

Established earlier this year, the RSAG seeks to overcome the challenges faced by many stakeholders in the region, including linguistic, geographical, technical, financial, social challenges to access global, regional and national processes. 

“The Advisory Group can contribute its collective expertise, perspectives and insights to strengthen the regional implementation of the GCM. The RSAG ‘s inputs, recommendations and engagement will help inform the forthcoming Regional Reviews, as well as contribute to collective efforts to implement the GCM in the region,” said one RSAG member 

“The Network places a premium on engaging inclusively with all stakeholders in the region and providing them with a platform to engage with their governments and the broader UN system,” said Jonathan Prentice, Head of the UN Network on Migration Secretariat. “This Group brings into realization the GCM’s Guiding Principle of a whole-of-society approach towards addressing key migration priorities in the region,” he added.

The inaugural, internal planning Meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Advisory Group was held in conjunction with the Regional Partners' Briefing which focused on introducing the UN-system wide coordinated efforts to enhance stakeholder engagement. 

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is the first-ever inter-governmentally negotiated UN agreement on a common approach to managing international migration.  It is based on a collective realization that no single government can effectively govern migration alone without cooperation, whether bilaterally, regionally, or globally. Member States also committed to implement the Global Compact for Migration in cooperation and partnership with migrants, civil society, migrant and diaspora organizations, faith-based organizations, local authorities and communities, the private sector, trade unions, parliamentarians, National Human Rights Institutions, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, academia, the media and other relevant stakeholders. 

For more information please contact:
In Geneva: 
Florence Kim, Strategic Communications Officer, UN Network on Migration Secretariat, fkim@iom.int

In Cairo:
Mohammedali Abunajela, Spokesperson, Regional Media and Public Information Department (MENA-RO), mmabunajela@iom.int