A/HRC/44/42 13. On 10 December, the Special Rapporteur participated as a member in the inaugural meeting of the steering committee of the United Nations multi-partner trust fund to support the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The operations manual was adopted during the meeting. 14. On 11 December, the Special Rapporteur attended the first annual meeting of the United Nations Network on Migration, which brought together the entire United Nations system, civil society organizations and other stakeholders. During the meeting, he emphasized the importance of inclusiveness and the whole-of-society approach of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the potential contributions from the special procedures. 15. On 16 December, he participated in the first meeting of the working group on migration and torture established by the World Organization against Torture and the Collectif des Associations Contre l’Impunité au Togo. 16. On 18 December, the Special Rapporteur participated in an event commemorating International Migrants Day organized by Ecuador and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago. 17. On 15 January 2020, he held a web consultation on the right to freedom of association of migrants in order to gather information for his thematic report to the Human Rights Council. 18. At the invitation of Ecuador, Chair of the twelfth summit meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the Special Rapporteur attended the meeting, held in Quito from 20 to 24 January 2020. He spoke at three side events entitled “Meeting in the middle: shaping public narratives on migration”, “Preventing and responding to genderbased violence against migrants” and “Moving from detention to adequate reception and care through peer learning and exchange”. On the last day of the Global Forum, under the framework of dialogue on the Global Compact for Migration, the Special Rapporteur moderated a panel discussion to review progress one year on from the adoption of the Global Compact. 19. On 26 February, at the invitation of the Global Migration Centre of the Graduate Institute Geneva, he gave a lecture entitled “The Global Compact for Migration, multilateralism and migration policies”. 20. On 27 February, the Special Rapporteur held an open consultation with civil society organizations based in Geneva. Over 20 representatives participated in the meeting. 21. On 9 March, he gave the inaugural lecture of the annual human rights course organized by the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya, on non-discrimination and intersectionality. 22. On 16 April, he held a webinar with civil society organizations based in Europe on ending immigration detention of children and providing adequate reception and care for them, in preparation for his thematic report on that topic to be presented to the General Assembly. 23. On 23 April, the Special Rapporteur participated in an online discussion organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the protection and promotion of the human rights of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers during the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. III. Study on the right to freedom of association of migrants A. Introduction 24. In the recent past, the Special Rapporteur has received information demonstrating increasing hostility towards migrants and civil society organizations that work to protect migrants’ rights. In many countries, this hostility has resulted in the imposition of new restrictions in law and in practice on freedom of association for migrants and their defenders. Given the interconnected nature of human rights, restrictions on freedom of association of migrants and their defenders further hinder migrants’ enjoyment of other 3