International Migration and Development

A/RES/69/229View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 21a International migration and development, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 1995–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/217

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/217	International migration and development	4,771	89%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/176	International migration and development	4,317	27%Compare
2020	A/RES/75/226	International migration and development	2,113	67%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/241	International migration and development	1,460	35%Compare
2017	A/RES/71/237	International migration and development	3,653	47%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

13 reports · 2004–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/282	International migration and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/217
2024	A/79/323	International migration and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/176
2022	A/77/236	International migration and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/75/226
2020	A/75/292	International migration and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/73/241
2018	A/73/286	International migration and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/71/237

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 subjects

Conferences Coordination Within UN System Development Human Rights International Migration Migrant Workers Migrants Migration Policy Remittances Trafficking in Persons

What’s in this document?

37 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;¹⁷

¹⁷A/69/207.

Recognizes that international migration is a multidimensional reality of major relevance for the development of countries of origin, transit and destination, and in this regard recognizes that international migration is a cross-cutting phenomenon that should be addressed in a coherent, comprehensive and balanced manner, integrating development with due regard for social, economic and environmental dimensions and respecting human rights;

Also recognizes the need to strengthen synergies between international migration and development at all levels, including the global, regional, national and local levels, as appropriate;

Acknowledges the complexity of migratory flows and that international migration movements also occur within the same geographical regions, and in this context calls for a better understanding of migration patterns across and within regions, regardless of the level of development;

Reaffirms the need to promote and protect effectively the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, especially those of women and children, and to address international migration through international, regional or bilateral cooperation and dialogue and through a comprehensive and balanced approach, recognizing the roles and responsibilities of countries of origin, transit and destination in promoting and protecting the human rights of all migrants, and avoiding approaches that might aggravate their vulnerability;

Expresses concern about legislation adopted by some States that results in measures and practices that may restrict the human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants, and reaffirms that, when exercising their sovereign right to enact and implement migratory and border security measures, States have the duty to comply with their obligations under international law, including international human rights law, in order to ensure full respect for the human rights of migrants;

Recognizes the need for international cooperation to address, in a holistic and comprehensive manner, the challenges of irregular migration to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration, with full respect for human rights;

Expresses concern about the large and growing number of migrants, especially women and children, including those unaccompanied or separated from their parents, who place themselves in a vulnerable situation by attempting to cross international borders without the required travel documents, and recognizes the obligation of States to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, especially those of women and children, regardless of their migration status;

Emphasizes the need to respect and promote international labour standards, as appropriate, and to respect the rights of migrants in their workplaces, including appropriate measures for the protection of women migrant workers in all sectors, including those involved in domestic work;

Notes the contribution of applicable international conventions, including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,¹⁸ to the international system for the protection of migrants;

¹⁸United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2220, No. 39481.

Recognizes that it is necessary to consider how the migration of highly skilled persons, especially in the health, social and engineering sectors, affects the development efforts of developing countries, and emphasizes the need to consider circular migration in this regard;

Also recognizes the importance of enhancing the capacities of low-skilled migrants in order to increase their access to employment opportunities in countries of destination;

Underlines the important role that migrants play as contributors in the development of origin, transit and destination countries and the need to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, and encourages Member States to consider reducing the costs related to migration, such as the fees paid to recruiters, where applicable, lowering the transfer costs of remittances, enhancing the portability of social security entitlements and other acquired rights and promoting the mutual recognition of the educational and professional qualifications and competencies of migrants;

Takes note of the references to migration and development contained in the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals,Error: Reference source not found including target 10.c, which reads: “By 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent”;

Expresses its concern about the impact of financial and economic crises and natural disasters on international migration and migrants, and in this regard urges Governments to combat unfair and discriminatory treatment of all migrants, in particular migrant workers and their families;

Recognizes that women and girls account for almost half of all international migrants at the global level, and also recognizes the need to address the special situation and vulnerability of migrant women and girls by, inter alia, incorporating a gender perspective into policies and strengthening national laws, institutions and programmes to combat gender-based violence, including trafficking in persons and discrimination against women and girls;

Reiterates its commitment to preventing and combating trafficking in persons, protecting victims of trafficking, preventing and combating migrant smuggling, as well as the activities of transnational and national organized crime entities, and protecting migrants from exploitation and other abuses, stresses the need to establish or upgrade, as appropriate, national and regional anti-human-trafficking policies and to reinforce cooperation on prevention, the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims of trafficking, and encourages Member States to ratify, accede to and implement relevant international instruments on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants;

Recognizes that the implementation at the national level of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children¹⁹ and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air,²⁰ supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,²¹ all of which were adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000, remains a challenge, and therefore stresses that it is important for States parties thereto to continue their efforts in this regard;

¹⁹Ibid., vol. 2237, No. 39574.

²⁰Ibid., vol. 2241, No. 39574.

²¹Ibid., vol. 2225, No. 39574.

Encourages Member States to cooperate on mobility programmes that facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration, including through labour mobility, as well as programmes that allow migrants to integrate fully into society and that facilitate family reunification in accordance with the laws and specific criteria of each Member State;

Recognizes the need to consider the role that environmental factors may play in migration;

Also recognizes the need to improve public perceptions of migrants and migration, and in this regard welcomes the efforts undertaken to create greater public awareness of their contributions;

Strongly condemns the acts, manifestations and expressions of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance against migrants and the stereotypes often applied to them, including on the basis of religion or belief, and urges States to apply and, where needed, reinforce the existing laws when xenophobic or intolerant acts, manifestations or expressions against migrants occur, in order to eradicate impunity for those who commit those acts;

Acknowledges the important contribution of migration in realizing the Millennium Development Goals, and recognizes that human mobility is a key factor for sustainable development which should be adequately considered in the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda;

Recognizes the importance of coordinated efforts of the international community to assist and support migrants stranded in vulnerable situations and to facilitate, and cooperate on when appropriate, their voluntary return to their country of origin, and calls for practical and action-oriented initiatives aimed at identifying and closing protection gaps;

Underlines the right of migrants to return to their country of citizenship, and recalls that States must ensure that their returning nationals are duly received;

Requests the 18 members of the Global Migration Group to continue to take steps to strengthen their cooperation, enhance their engagement with Member States and civil society and engage jointly in work at the country level that is in the service of migrants and their families in societies of origin, transit and destination;

Emphasizes the need for reliable, accurate, disaggregated, nationally relevant and internationally comparable statistical data and indicators on international migration, including, when possible, on the contributions of migrants to development in both countries of origin and countries of destination in order to facilitate the design of evidence-based policymaking and decision-making in all relevant aspects of sustainable development, and in this regard invites the entities of the United Nations system and other relevant international organizations and multilateral institutions, in accordance with their mandates and as appropriate, to assist Member States in their capacity-building efforts in this matter;

Calls upon all relevant bodies, agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, other relevant intergovernmental, regional and subregional organizations, including the International Organization for Migration and other members of the Global Migration Group, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on International Migration and Development, within their respective mandates, to strengthen their collaboration and cooperation to better and more fully address the issue of international migration and development, in order to adopt a coherent, comprehensive and coordinated approach, and to consider migration issues in their contributions to the preparatory process that will establish the post-2015 development agenda;

Recognizes the efforts made by the international community in addressing relevant aspects of international migration and development, through different initiatives, both within the United Nations system and in other processes, particularly the Global Forum on Migration and Development and regional processes, as well as in drawing on the expertise of the International Organization for Migration and other member agencies of the Global Migration Group;

Stresses the need to deepen the interaction between Governments and civil society in order to find responses to the challenges and the opportunities posed by international migration, to recognize the contribution of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to promoting the well-being of migrants and their integration into society, especially at times of conditions of extreme vulnerability, and to strengthen the support of the international community to the efforts of such organizations;

Requests the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on International Migration and Development to continue to facilitate the linkages between the United Nations and the Global Forum on Migration and Development, promote collaboration between the Global Forum process and the Global Migration Group, including the International Organization for Migration, and continue to advocate for the principles reflected in the Declaration of the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development;²²

²²Resolution 68/4.

Decides to hold the Third High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development by no later than 2019, at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, to review the follow-up to the outcome of the Second High-level Dialogue and to advance the discussion on the multidimensional aspects of international migration, with the date and modalities of the dialogue to be decided upon at its seventy-first session, and also decides to hold such dialogues to continue reviewing the follow-up to previous High-level Dialogues at regular intervals and to determine the periodicity thereof at its seventy-first session, taking into account alignment with all relevant United Nations development review processes;

Calls upon all relevant bodies, agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system and other relevant intergovernmental, regional and subregional organizations, including the Global Migration Group, within their respective mandates, to continue to address the issue of international migration and development, with a view to integrating migration issues, including a gender perspective and cultural diversity, in a more coherent way in the context of the follow-up to the Second High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development and the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and with respect for human rights;

Decides to work towards an effective and inclusive agenda on international migration that integrates development and respects human rights by improving the performance of existing institutions and frameworks, as well as partnering more effectively with all stakeholders involved in international migration and development at the regional and global levels;

Invites the regional commissions, in collaboration with other relevant entities of the United Nations system and the International Organization for Migration and in accordance with their respective mandates, to continue to examine the regional aspects of international migration and development and to provide inputs to the report of the Secretary-General on international migration and development to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session a report on the implementation of the present resolution that also looks further into the integration of the migration perspective at the national, regional and international levels, including information on best practices and recommendations to address the difficulties that migrants face and to bolster their contribution to development;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-first session, under the item entitled “Globalization and interdependence”, the sub-item entitled “International migration and development”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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