A/71/285
(d) Facilitating unionization for all migrant workers regardless of their
status, effective access to justice for all migrants and respect of the rule of law for
all, including migrants;
(e) Implementing “firewalls” between immigration enforcement and public
services such as police services, health care and education for all migrants,
regardless of their status;
(f) Reinforcing labour inspection mechanisms to enforce the rights of all
workers, including migrant workers, whatever their status;
(g) Creating multiple labour migration opportunities, including for low skilled migrants, to incentivize migrants to use regular migration channels, through
visa and work permit regimes.
37. Smugglers and exploitative employers are currently facilitating the labour
mobility that many labour markets need in order to thrive. Through creative visa
opportunities for work at all skill levels, including for low-wage migrants, States
could considerably reduce the number of migrants arriving through irregular means
or overstaying their visas or permits. Coupled with entry and exit controls and other
supporting initiatives, multi-year and multi-entry visas could incentivize migrants to
come to countries of destination for work and return to the country of origin while
respecting visa conditions. Encouraging mobility, including for employment, family
reunification and education, will reduce irregularity.
38. The successful implementation of such a policy mix requires challenging the
many intersecting and negative perceptions of migrants and migration that have
pervaded public debates, policies and politics. The overreliance on securitization
rests on the assumption that sealing international borders is possible, when the
unsustainable status quo shows that it is not. Developing the global compact will
require continued political commitment and creative policy developments.
2.
Building on existing bilateral, regional and global cooperation mechanisms
39. Migration governance has become increasingly informal, ad hoc, non -binding
and State-led, largely falling outside the United Nations framework in forums such
as the Global Forum on Migration and Development and regional consultative
processes. This leads to a lack of accountability, monitoring and oversight and the
absence of a relationship with the formal normative monitoring mechanisms
established within the United Nations.
40. Although such informal forums serve the purpose of initiating and sustaining
conversations on migration issues between States, there is also a need to enha nce
the human rights dimension of global migration governance, including in terms of
accountability, and to bring it into the United Nations framework, including by
establishing an institutional framework on migration based within the Organization.
41. There has been considerable recognition of and interest in the issue of
migration governance over the past decade. The two High -level Dialogues on
International Migration and Development, with a third to be held by 2019, the
thriving Global Forum on Migration and Development, the coordination work of the
Global Migration Group, the growth in IOM membership, the development of
regional initiatives, through both regional organizations and regional consultative
processes, and the decision to hold the high-level plenary meeting of the General
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