High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants

A/RES/70/290View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda items 15 Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields and 116 Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit, published in 2016.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Conferences Consultations Migrants Refugees

What’s in this document?

34 operative paragraphs

Decides that:

The high-level meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants shall consist of a plenary meeting and six interactive multi-stakeholder round tables and that the organizational arrangements will be as follows:

The opening plenary meeting will be held in the General Assembly Hall from 8.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m;

Following the opening meeting, the plenary meeting will be held simultaneously in the Economic and Social Council Chamber and the Trusteeship Council Chamber from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.;

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The sequence envisaged for the round tables, although this could be subject to modification, in consultation with Member States, is that round tables 1, 2 and 3 will be held in parallel, each running from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and round tables 4, 5 and 6 will be held in parallel, each running from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.;

The closing plenary meeting will be held in the General Assembly Hall from 7.30 p.m. to 8 p.m.;

The high-level meeting will be co-chaired by the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-first session and the President of the Assembly at its seventieth session; the opening plenary meeting will feature statements of up to three minutes each involving the President of the Assembly at its seventy-first session, the President of the Assembly at its seventieth session, the Secretary-General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration, the Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the Global Migration Group, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the President of the World Bank Group, a member of a migrant community, a member of a refugee community, a representative of civil society and a representative of the private sector;

The outcome document of the high-level meeting will be adopted during the opening plenary meeting;

The plenary meeting will hear statements by Member States, observer States and intergovernmental organizations and entities that have observer status with the General Assembly, the list of speakers will be established in accordance with the rules of procedure and established practices of the Assembly and the time limit for these statements will be four minutes;

The themes for each of the six round tables will be as follows:

Round table 1: Addressing the root causes of large movements of refugees;

Round table 2: Addressing drivers of migration, particularly large movements, and highlighting the positive contributions of migrants;

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Round table 3: International action and cooperation on refugees and migrants and issues related to displacement: the way ahead;

Round table 4: Global compact for responsibility-sharing for refugees; respect for international law;

Round table 5: Global compact for safe, regular and orderly migration: towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieving full respect for the human rights of migrants;

Round table 6: Addressing vulnerabilities of refugees and migrants on their journeys from their countries of origin to their countries of arrival;

Each interactive multi-stakeholder round table will normally be presided over by two co-chairs, to be appointed by the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session in consultation with regional groups and with due regard for geographical balance;

The time limit for statements by participants in the interactive multi-stakeholder round tables will be five minutes;

Each interactive multi-stakeholder round table will reserve at least two seats for non-governmental actors;

The Secretary-General will deliver closing remarks, which will include a summary of the plenary debate as well as of the interactive multi-stakeholder round tables;

Invites Member States, observer States and intergovernmental organizations and entities that have observer status with the General Assembly to be represented at the highest possible level;

Invites the United Nations system, including funds, programmes, specialized agencies and regional commissions, relevant special rapporteurs, special representatives and special advisers, as well as the Bretton Woods institutions, to participate in the high-level meeting, including in the interactive multi-stakeholder round tables and preparatory process;

Invites non-governmental organizations that are in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and that have relevant expertise to register with the Secretariat in order to attend the high-level meeting and to participate in the interactive multi-stakeholder round tables and preparatory process;

Requests the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session, in consultation with Member States, to finalize the organizational arrangements for the high-level meeting;

Also requests the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session to draw up a list of other relevant representatives of relevant non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions and the private sector who may attend the high-level meeting and participate in the interactive round tables, taking into account the principles of transparency and of equitable geographical representation, and with due regard to the meaningful participation of women, and to submit the list to Member States for their consideration on a non-objection basis;¹

¹The list of proposed as well as final names will be brought to the attention of the General Assembly. Where a name is objected to, the objecting Member State will, on a voluntary basis, make known to the Office of the President of the General Assembly the general basis of its objections and the Office will share any information received with any Member State upon its request.

Further requests the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session, as part of the preparatory process for the high-level meeting, to organize, no later than July 2016, and to preside over, a one-day informal interactive multi-stakeholder hearing, attended by representatives of Member States, observer States and intergovernmental organizations and entities that have observer status with the Assembly, as well as by non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, invited civil society organizations and the private sector, and requests the President to prepare a summary of the hearing;

Decides that the members of refugee and migrant communities who will make statements in the opening plenary meeting may be selected by the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session during the informal interactive multi-stakeholder hearing, in consultation with the Secretary-General and Member States;

Also decides that the representatives of civil society and the private sector who also will make statements in the opening plenary meeting, and who will participate in the round tables, may be selected by the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session during the informal interactive multi-stakeholder hearing, in consultation with the Secretary-General and Member States;

Requests the President of the General Assembly at its seventieth session to hold open, transparent and inclusive intergovernmental negotiations with all Member States, through the appointed co-facilitators, with a view to agreeing on an outcome document for the high-level meeting;

Decides that:

The process of intergovernmental negotiations on the outcome document will be in accordance with the rules of procedure and established practices of the General Assembly;

The initial draft of the outcome document will be prepared by the co-facilitators on the basis of views provided by Member States;

Relevant stakeholders, including civil society, scientific and knowledge-based institutions, parliaments, local authorities and the private sector will be able to contribute views, in particular through informal dialogues to which they will be invited by the co-facilitators; the intergovernmental nature of the negotiations, however, will be fully respected;

Envisages that these negotiations will give due consideration, inter alia, to the report of the Secretary-General on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants,² as well as relevant United Nations or other intergovernmental high-level meetings.

²A/70/59.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

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