Fifth Global Forum on Migration and Development

In their joint statement, trade unions and civil society called for a stronger role for the ILO in leading the global governance of migration in order to ensure protection of migrants, including those in irregular status, preserve the well-being of children, women and families left behind, regulate the activities of recruitment agencies, examine the pitfalls of temporary and circular migration and to build alternatives to migration through investment in decent work and quality public services (see statement at www.gfmdcivilsociety.org). The Global Union delegation worked in solidarity with migrant civil society around the forum, but expressly voiced its criticism of the GFMD for being an international forum that lacks legitimacy and accountability as it continues to be run informally and outside of the UN system. At the Global Unions Forum on Migration, trade unions set out plans to prepare for the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in 2013, which will decide the future of the GFMD. The priority for the trade union movement is to bring the GFMD back into the fold of the UN, placing a prominent role for the ILO, so that decent work and rights-based labour migration policies are placed at the core of any migration debate.