Rabat – Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Omar Hilale has reviewed his country’s vision of migration with the NGO Committee on Migration.
Ambassador Hilale held a virtual meeting on March 10 with John Bingham, an independent member of the NGO Committee on Migration, according to the official Twitter account of the permanent mission of Morocco at the UN.
In accordance with the UN Charter, the NGO Committee on Migration protects and promotes migrants’ human rights by assisting migrants in vulnerable situations and addressing issues related to xenophobia and promoting social inclusion.
During the meeting with John Bingham, “Amb Hilale underlined the crucial role of the 1st #IMRF and the #Declaration-of-Progress in implementing the noble 23 objectives of the GCM,” it added.
The Moroccan diplomat referred to the recommendations of the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) that call for more efforts at the national and international levels to improve the living conditions of migrants.
Organized every four years, the forum serves as a “primary intergovernmental global platform” to review state efforts to implement recommendations by the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Signed in 2018 in Marrakech, the GCM “is the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, covering all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.”
The GCM identified 23 objectives to address the challenges facing migrants and member states. The objectives include the reduction of human trafficking and smuggling and the increase of rescue operations. They also address structural push factors in home countries and promote ethical and safe migration with respect to human rights.
With the call for evidence-based migration policies, the GCM calls for a global humanitarian approach toward migration that can lead to development in the home country through the reduction of the pervasive issue of the brain drain, remittances investment, and the integration of the migrants in the formal economies of host countries.
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As a signing member, Morocco has committed to the humanitarian approach of the migration compact. On several occasions, the North African country reiterated its support for international cooperation to counter irregular migration and human trafficking.
In February, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered King Mohammed VI’s letter to the EU-AU Summit in Brussels.
The letter recalled Moroccan efforts to address migration in a humanitarian way, stressing the need to perceive migration and mobility as positive drivers for African and European economies.
“The pandemic has shown that in terms of mobility, migrants do not have a harmful effect on the economy. On the contrary, they have a positive impact in their host country – where they are often “essential workers” – as well as in their country of origin,” noted King Mohammed VI.
Sharing the same vision, Ambassador Hilale noted today that “the pandemic has underscored the importance of the Marrakech Compact and confirmed the relevance of its objectives, in terms of regularizing migrants’ status, guaranteeing their access to social security, and allowing them to benefit from the vaccination.”
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