In 2018, with the adoption of the Marrakech Mayors Declaration, local and regional governments (LRGs) pledged to implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) as well as the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in unison, as concrete pathways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
To elevate this continued political commitment, Mayors Mechanism Steering Committee members — United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Mayors Migration Council (MMC), and the UN Migration Agency (IOM) — in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), launched a Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees in May 2022.
Acknowledged by the UN Secretary-General in his 2022 Report on the GCM, the Call to Local Action offers a concrete avenue for LRGs to localise the GCM and GCR and for LRGs to be recognised for meeting global goals. Concretely, it aims to:
1. Expand the number of LRGs publicly endorsing the GCM and GCR through the Marrakech Mayors Declaration
2. Collect and showcase bold, people-centered local actions that achieve or exceed the GCM and GCR to facilitate cross fertilisation, peer learning, and replication.
3. Create a cohort of publicly recognised LRG leaders engaged in robust GCM and GCR implementation to motivate scaling, investment, and new local-national-global partnerships.
Piloted in 2019 and launched in 2022, the Call to Local Action mobilised 70 actions ahead of the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) in May 2022, making local governments the second largest stakeholder group – after national governments – to pledge to the implementation of the Migration Compact. This effort will be scaled and brought to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum as well as to the GFMD Summit in 2024.
The Call to Local Action is a collaborative effort between the GFMD Mayors Mechanism steering committee members (United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Mayors Migration Council (MMC) and the UN Migration Agency (IOM)), in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The Call to Action focusses on 8 priority areas drawn from the Marrakech Mayors Declaration. Each of the priority areas link back to specific objectives and focus areas of the Migration and Refugee Compacts, as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals. The full matrix is available on the Call to Action Website. These topics also all connect to the thematic priorities of the GFMD 2024 Chairmanship:
1. Improving local migration and forced displacement governance (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 6)
2. Minimising the drivers of forced migration and displacement (GFMD 2024 crosscutting focus on climate change)
3. Protecting those most vulnerable (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 2)
4. Providing access to urban infrastructure, social services and education regardless of status (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 2, 4, 6)
5. Realising socio-economic inclusion (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Eliminating all forms of discrimination and promote evidence-based public discourse (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 3, 5)
7. Supporting reception and advance community sponsorship initiatives (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 1 and 2)
8. Engaging in regional and multilateral partnerships and increase city-to-city cooperation (GFMD 2024 Roundtable 6)
Call to Local Action website: http://localaction.mayorsmechanism.org/
Call to Local Action - Report on Localising the Migration and Refugee Compacts - 2022:...