Heads of the eight United Nations organisations constituting the Executive Committee of the UN Network on Migration have established the Start-up Fund for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the first financing instrument of its kind, to support international cooperation on migration.
Also referred to as Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (Migration MPTF), this mechanism will help to jumpstart projects and foster greater cooperation in pursuit of well-managed migration policies.
While safe, orderly and regular migration brings benefits to migrants and communities of origin, transit and destination, unregulated migration presents various challenges, including the risk that migrants become vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Given the complexity of the drivers of migration, migration has become a litmus test of international cooperation.
In attendance at the signing ceremony were Guy Ryder (ILO), António Vitorino (IOM), Michelle Bachelet (OHCHR), Liu Zhenmin (UNDESA), Achim Steiner (UNDP), Henrietta Fore (UNICEF), Filippo Grandi (UNHCR) and Yury Fedotov (UNODC). Other members of the UN Network will sign up shortly.
António Vitorino, the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration and Coordinator of the Network, who will also serve as chair of the Fund’s steering committee, highlighted the significance of the occasion, noting that “today we established a new mechanism fostering international cooperation towards safe, orderly and regular migration: an inspiring example of what the UN can do together”.
The Migration MPTF was called for by the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018. As a UN pooled financing mechanism, its primary purpose is to assist Member States in implementing the Global Compact.
Drawing on the collective expertise of the different participating UN entities, this mechanism will allow the UN at the country level to work with other key stakeholders, including national and local authorities and civil society, to design and implement joint programmes, building on best practice, that provide a multidimensional response to addressing migration opportunities, challenges and needs.
While a specific focus will be given to joint programming at national level, the Migration MPTF will also support local, regional and global initiatives, heeding the call of the Global Compact to strengthen implementation at all levels.
As a collective endeavour of the UN system, Member States and other partners, the Fund is a clear example of how the UN development system can jointly deliver integrated responses that support States’ needs and leave no one behind in the path to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In particular, this mechanism will advance SDG target 10.7 aimed at facilitating “orderly, safe and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies”.
The Fund is now open for contributions. By pooling together resources from governments, private sector and other organisations, this mechanism is expected to mobilise funding from a wide array of contributors.
