#Cities4Migration: November, a month for solidarity with migrants

November will see two major global events on migration; a Mediterranean City-to-City Migration High Level Conference from 7-8 November in Beirut (Lebanon), and a Global Conference on Cities and Migrants from 16-17 November in Mechelen (Belgium).

This article has been initially published on UCLG website.

These international gatherings will be an important milestone for the wave of action on migration that UCLG has launched under the slogan “all migrants, all citizens”. The wave of action aims to raise awareness among local governments about their major role in the social inclusion of migrants, as well as to influence international debates and change the global narrative on migration.

Two major meetings in November for local and regional governments

In the framework of the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM) project, UCLG and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), in partnership with UN-Habitat, will hold a High Level Conference from 7-8 November, in Beirut. The event will give mayors, national representatives and experts the opportunity to discuss the findings, and recommendations of the MC2CM and to lay the groundwork for the next phase of the project, in which cities will leverage their unique role to enhance the benefits of migration, at the local and national level.

UCLG has been participating in the MC2CM project since 2015. The project works with the cities of Amman, Beirut, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Tangier, Turin, Tunis and Vienna, and aims to contribute to improved migration governance and better access of migrants to rights and basic services, particularly in cities from the Southern rim of the Mediterranean.

One of the main outputs of the MC2CM project will be a Policy Paper that will provide recommendations based on the knowledge generated through the project. The recommendations also build upon relevant existing declarations and commitments, including the New York Declaration, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the New Urban Agenda and several relevant Mayoral Forum Declarations.

[Read more: High Level Conference of the Mediterranean City to city Migration Project in Beirut]

• Program of the High-level Conference on Mediterranean Migration from Cities to Cities (MC2CM).
• The recommendations of the MC2CM policy.
• Summary report of the 9 urban migration profiles.

Another key date for cities and migration will be the Global Conference on Cities and Migrants, to be held from 16-17 November 2017, organized by UCLG, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN?Habitat, with the support of the Belgian Government, and hosted by the City of Mechelen, Belgium.

The meeting will send a strong message to the United Nations and its Member States both on the importance of the work already carried out by cities on migration, and the need to intensify multilevel dialogue and coordination in order to broaden their capacity to implement public policies. This event aims to explore how to combine international migration and sustainable urban development in order to make inclusive, safe and resilient cities for all.

[Read more: UCLG calls for participation in the Global Conference on Cities and Migrants]

UCLG Wave of Action on Migration

Migration has been a long-standing priority for UCLG, which is committed to dealing with the issue from a global perspective. The New Urban Agenda recognizes local governments’ key role in migration and includes commitments by Member States to support their host cities to better address the issue.

UCLG launched a Wave of Action on Migration in June of 2017, aiming to build and share a new narrative on migration and to improve the contributions of local governments to the governance of migration.

Under the slogan “All migrants, all citizens”, the Wave of Action will run until the end of 2018 and connect up actions in the field of migration across the UCLG network, as well as to systematize relationships with partners such as the United Nations, the IOM and ICMPD, among others.

One of the main milestones of the wave will be UCLG’s involvement and advocacy in the drafting process of the UN Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, to be adopted in New York in October 2018.

[Read more: UCLG Wave of Action]