Governments from around the world gathered at UN Headquarters in New York from 5–8 May 2026 for the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), the primary global platform for reviewing progress on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).
The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Loreto Generalate was present at the Forum to learn, advocate, and connect Congregation of Jesus grassroots initiatives on migration, labour exploitation, and human trafficking with global advocacy.
Throughout the week, Member States, civil society, and other actors, engaged in critical conversation regarding the needs of people on the move. Discussions were structured around four interactive round tables addressing all 23 GCM objectives, covering topics from climate-related drivers of migration and fair recruitment to anti-trafficking measures, social cohesion, remittances, and international cooperation.
The Forum concluded with Member States adopting a Progress Declaration that reaffirms the international community’s commitment to the GCM, reviews progress made so far, and outlines priorities for future action — including labour rights, legal identity for migrants, strengthening safe and regular migration pathways, and saving lives along key migration routes.
As International Organization for Migration Director General Amy Pope noted: “Every sovereign state has the right to set its own migration priorities. Every migrant has the right to be treated with dignity. This Forum showed that these two truths are not in tension.”
In the lead up to the Forum, civil society advocates noted resistance to naming critical issues such as child immigration detention, mass deportations, and border issues, as well as efforts to minimize references to climate displacement. Procedural barriers such as limited language access, visa restrictions for participants, and last-minute negotiation changes constrained meaningful civil society participation.
Many faith-based organizations, including the International Catholic Migration Commission called on Member States to reaffirm their commitment to the human rights law underpinning the Global Compact, so that “dignity, solidarity and protection of the most vulnerable remain at the center of migration governance.”
Caritas Internationalis — speaking jointly with Quaker United Nations Office, Franciscans International, Church World Service, Lutheran World Service, and the International Catholic Migration Commission — expressed deep concern about a systemic regression in protection standards, including the rise of populist policies and the erosion of international legal commitments, as well as the containment and externalisation of borders through agreements and forced returns that undermine human dignity. Their specific calls to governments included addressing root causes of displacement, upholding the legal duty to save lives, expanding safe pathways and regularization programmes, and eliminating arbitrary detention — particularly for children, women, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups.
Read the Progress Declaration Hier.
Autor: Sarah Rudolph, CJ
