As part of our work to end lethal disregard for people on the move, the Human Rights and Refugees Programme has collaborated to draft a joint letter calling on the Human Rights Council to undertake a global investigation into deaths, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave human rights violations faced by people in transit across international borders. Joined by 228 organizations (by 25 June), the letter highlights the global pattern of deaths and grave human rights violations in transit.

In line with our prioritisation of ending lethal disregard for people on the move as a core element of achieving migration justice, QUNO Geneva is engaging with both the UN human rights system and the UN migration governance architecture. 

It is five months since States met at the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) to assess implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and agree priorities to accelerate action. The Annual Meeting of the UN Network on Migration in October brought together nearly 700 participants, including over 160 in person, from governments, UN agencies, and stakeholders to outline next steps. 

QUNO welcomes the publication of the UN Network’s on Migration’s Roadmap for the International Migration Review Forum. Work towards this Forum is well underway and we have published a paper outlining what the IMRF is. This is our first paper in a planned series on Migration Justice: Delivering on the Promise of the Global Compact for Migration.

This updated paper is intended to help migrants, NGOs and other stakeholders to engage with the Regional Migration Reviews as part of their work to improve the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants. The Global Compact for Migration (GCM), adopted in 2018, is a significant commitment from governments to take a people centred and human rights based approach to migration policy and to work together towards this. The GCM invites regions to undertake reviews of the implementation of the compact every four years starting in 2020.

QUNO was pleased to have delivered two oral statements drawing attention to the human rights of migrants at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

As part of its ongoing work on the human rights of migrants, QUNO delivered an oral statement to the Human Rights Council, urging the Council to take more focused and sustained action on the issue. Laurel Townhead, QUNO’s Representative for Human Rights and Refugees, listed the names of three of the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives, drawing attention to the individual human beings behind migration statistics.