Comments
Some of the premises of this and other measures are: (i) the need for countries to have agreements that facilitate migration so that it can be conducted through regular channels; (ii) the need to adopt strategies to improve the sources of information on migration and make such information readily accessible; and (iii) the need for starting-point indicators.
Related instruments, forums and mechanisms
This measure is very broad in scope. Its implicit purpose is to address the multiple dimensions of contemporary migration in a manner consistent with respect for the human rights of migrants, regardless of their migration status, and have this intent enshrined in the development agendas. It focuses in particular on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in this sense follow-up would be associated with target 10.7 c (“Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of plans and well-managed migration policies”). The United Nations Statistics Division proposes two indicators in this area: (1) Index on Human Mobility Governance, measuring key features of good-governance of migration, and (2) Number of migrants killed, injured or victims of crime while attempting to cross maritime, land, air borders.
There is also a need to consider and formulate policies related to migration and environmental impacts, particularly with reference to adaptation plans and risk management. The inclusion of migration issues in local development plans may be a special consideration.
In addition, as the measure makes a special point of regularizing migration, all the international and Inter-American human rights instruments (and the reports of their treaty bodies) can substitute as mechanisms, in addition to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the protocols thereto. The mandates of the United Nations agencies and the action of the Global Migration Group are part of follow-up to this measure. In particular, IOM, with its mandate, assistance and programmes, represents an essential point of reference.
The action plans and commitments from the Regional Conference on Migration and the South American Conference on Migration also provide backing, in particular by including countries that have not ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. CELAC is one appropriate forum for follow-up, as are potentially other multilateral cooperation forums, such as the Summit of the Americas, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Andean Community and the Central American Integration System (SICA). Within MERCOSUR, the residency agreement, which has been ratified by a majority of South American countries, provides for regularization of citizens of the subregion on the basis of common regional criteria, and treats the regularization of migrants’ status as central to migration policy under a perspective of regional integration.
