According to a press release issued by the United Nations, from December 4 to 6, the stocktaking meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration will take place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

During the meeting, the UN Member States and civil society will review the information gathered during the consultations phase of the Global Compact, which took place between April and November 2017, to supply constructive analysis.

Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Louise Arbour, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for International Migration will open the meeting co-chaired by Juan José Gómez Camacho, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN and Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland.

“The meeting is a major step toward drafting the Global Compact for Migration, a landmark intergovernmental agreement that will cover all dimensions of international migration,” said the statement, adding that world leaders will begin to forge consensus aligned with the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ahead of key meeting on migration in Mexico, @UNICEF appeals to leaders to take action to keep #ChildrenUprooted safe & protect their rights. https://t.co/E7qi71znUBpic.twitter.com/aUuD7qTPsR — United Nations (@UN) December 1, 2017

“Global leaders and policymakers convening in Puerto Vallarta can work together to make migration safe for children,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Director of Programmes.

The meeting will revolve around five axes, looking back on phase I (stocktaking), towards a vision (platforms to stimulate analysis with innovative initiatives), towards concrete commitments (analysis), follow up and implementation (institutional architecture and effective partnerships), and towards a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration (overall perspective on the discussions that took place in the previous three days), according to the provisional agenda.

Miroslav Lajčák, President of the General Assembly will address the meeting's closing session baring in mind that “migration is a global phenomenon, and a global phenomenon demands a global response, led by a global framework.”

According to the statement, the intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact for Migration will take place between February and July 2018 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and it would then be adopted at an Intergovernmental Conference proposed for Morocco at the end of 2018.

During the UN meeting on Global Compact for Migration announcement, UNICEF released Beyond Borders: How to make the global compacts on migration and refugees work for uprooted children, a report that highlights best practices for the care and protection of refugee and migrant children.

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