Refugees and Migrants

QUNO works to protect and strengthen the rights of refugees and migrants at the UN level. We seek to uphold the dignity and worth of every individual, regardless of circumstance, and work to see this equality of all people better reflected by the international community in the treatment of people on the move.

We work with the UN human rights mechanisms, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and others to advocate for responses to people on the move that are firmly rooted in international human rights principles. Using our traditional methods of bringing different actors engaged in this work together, we aim to create a more humane global vision and approach to people on the move.

QUNO is actively engaged in the follow up to the New York Declaration, a high-level document agreed by States on the 19th September 2016 focussed on addressing large movements of people. The declaration sets in motion a series of processes at the UN level which aim to improve global governance in this area. QUNO sees this as a significant opportunity to develop a more rights-respecting global framework for addressing large movements of people.

Our work also involves engaging with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on refugee protection issues (in particular related to conscientious objection to military service), ending statelessness and other matters related to forced displacement.

Recent Timeline Events

December 2018

The adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: A QUNO guide for Friends

On 10th December 2018, after a two year negotiation process, States formally adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakech. On 19th December, the Compact was then endorsed with a vote at the General Assembly in New York.

As an international agreement determined to enhance cooperation on migration policy, the Global Compact provides an unprecedented opportunity to acknowledge that all countries are places of origin, transit and destination, and that States have a shared responsibility in their approach to people on the move. Despite the small number of votes against and “withdrawals” at the General Assembly, and the domination within the surrounding conversation of a racist and xenophobic rhetoric, the Compact is nevertheless an achievement of multilateralism, and deserves to be celebrated.

The reasons it endured some diplomatic difficulty in the run up to its adoption are the same reasons that it remains such a necessary and vital agreement – because the human rights of migrants need to be acknowledge, advocated for and protected, irregardless of the political climate, and existing legal standards that govern international migration must be upheld and respected.

This briefing provides a short guide to the Compact, offering an explanation of the final text, a timeline of how it was developed, some suggestions of how Friends can use the document to support their witness and their activism, and a description of what QUNO’s next steps will be.

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Foundations for Implementation: QUNO launches new guidebook for States implementing the Global Compact for Migration

For the past few years, QUNO has worked to support the development and implementation of an ambitious, effective and human rights based Global Compact for Migration.

In December 2018, representatives from the Human Rights and Refugees programme traveled to Marrakesh to attend the 2018 Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

There, we launched Foundations for Implementation, a guide to assist States in the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. The publication brings together explicit existing recommendations drawn from the UN's Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies presented in line with the Compact's 23 objectives. The intention is that this publication will offer authoritative guidance to assist States in meeting the agreed objectives through practical actions. The hope is that this will contribute to a shift in migration governance, and the support of an ambitious, effective and human rights based implementation of the Global Compact.

A digital version is also available at the end of this post.

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More about this work

QUNO's Human Rights & Refugees programme works to support States in strengthening human rights standards so that frontline organizations, and marginalized communities themselves, can harness these standards to limit suffering, protect lives and challenge the root causes of injustice.

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September 2018

"We only have the Global Compact for Migration because of the witness of Human Rights defenders" : QUNO speaks at an OHCHR side event

On Thursday 27th September at the 39th Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Refugees representative, Laurel Townhead, spoke at a side event on migrants' Human Rights defenders, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Paraguay. Laurel centered her presentation on the crucial role Human Rights defenders play in offering a counter narrative of compassion in an increasingly xenophobic global climate. She stressed how vital the witness of migrants' Human Rights defenders has been in creating the Global Compact for Migration, and how important it is now to celebrate its adoption, to ensure it has tangible power in improving the lives of people on the move. QUNO will be at the Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakesh this December, where the compact will be formally adopted.

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