A/59/377 C. Towards a rights-based migration management 47. Exploring new forms of migration management is currently a priority on the international political agenda of the many intergovernmental consultative processes established to that end. The Special Rapporteur therefore considers that it would be a good idea to share with the General Assembly a number of thoughts on the matter. 48. The objective of these forums, which are generally informal in nature, is to adopt legally non-binding political frameworks that facilitate effective cooperation among States in the management of migratory flows. Consultative processes have given a multilateral perspective to migration management, which until recently has been dominated by bilateral agreements; they encompass almost all the regions of the world, with the exception of central and eastern Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. The most important of these forums include: Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa and Migration Dialogue for Western Africa; Regional Conference on Migration, also known as the Puebla Process, and South American Conference on Migration (Lima Declaration Process); Budapest Group and Conference of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); Conference on Western Mediterranean Cooperation (Five plus five); Manila Process, Intergovernmental Asia-Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced Persons and Migrants, Bali Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Conference); Intergovernmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies in Europe, North America, and Australia.9 49. In addition, as the European Union completes its process of harmonizing immigration and asylum policies under the close watch of non-governmental organizations, two highly significant projects will publish their final reports in the coming months: the Berne Initiative and the Global Commission on International Migration. The former, which is backed by the Swiss Government and for which IOM serves as secretariat, seeks to be a forum for intergovernmental cooperation on migration management at the global level. On 2 and 3 July 2003, the Berne Initiative consultations were held in the Swiss capital; these consultations were the first step towards drawing up a framework of governing principles to facilitate cooperation among States with a view to managing international migration. This framework — known as the International Agenda for Migration Management — is being drawn up through a series of regional consultations during 2004 and will, in principle, be adopted at the end of the year during the Second International Symposium on Migration (Berne II). The Agenda will include a set of common principles on migration identified by States and other stakeholders, as well as a compilation of effective migration management practices.10 Unlike the Berne Initiative, which is a State-owned process, the Global Commission on International Migration is an independent body, and its co-Chairs and commissioners carry out their duties with complete independence. The overall aim of the Commission, which was officially launched on 9 December 2003, is to provide the framework for the formulation of a coherent, comprehensive and global response to international migration. One of the key areas of its mandate, which was developed by a Core Group of States, is to analyse gaps in current migration policies. By mid-2005, the Global Commission will present, for the attention of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral and other stakeholders, a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening international governance of migration at the national, regional and global levels.11 15