UNITAR Launches the Second Mayoral Forum on Mobility, Migration and Development
12 November 2015, Quito, Ecuador - With close to 100 local governments, civil society and international community representatives present, UNITAR launched the Second Mayoral Forum on Mobility, Migration and Development in Quito Ecuador on 12 November 2015. Officiated by the Mayor of Quito, Mayor Mauricio Rodas described his City as particularly apt to host the Mayoral Forum following the First Mayoral Forum that took place in Barcelona in June 2014. “It is clear to me that the Mayoral Forum is a fundamentally important initiative given the fact that cities are at the forefront of governing how human mobility plays out in communities.” He further stressed that the adoption of the new UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides an important framework from which cities can and should seek to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs migration-related targets, and other targets that affect or can be affected by migrants, refugees and IDPs. As such, the Quito Local Agenda on Migration and Development (PDF), the Forum's centrepiece to be adopted on 13 November, constitutes a pioneering document on how to implement the SDGs at the local level.
The start of a global process for city leadership, the Ambassador of Switzerland, Mr. Déscoterd, confirmed that: “The Mayoral Forum on Mobility, Migration and Development provides an urgently needed global space for mayors and municipal leadership to share experiences, showcase best practices, shape concrete recommendations and launch joint initiatives with a view to fostering the development outcomes of migration and mobility.” He further expressed that: "Switzerland fully supports the vision stipulated in the Quito Local Agenda and will do its part to make the voice of cities on migration and development heard in the global arena."
Emphasizing the fact that migrants are important contributors to development in both communities of origin and destination, Mr. Carlos Palma, Director of the newly established CIFAL Centre in El Salvador, who represented Global Network of 14 CIFAL Centres afiliated to UNITAR at the Quito Mayoral Forum, emphasized that a dimension that would be pivotal to the capacity development projects initiated in El Salvador is: “the economic dimension, which is fundamental since progress on diversity will require concerted efforts to also ensure economic productivity.”
Over the next two days, those gathered will discuss lessons in key policy areas as pertains to migration and refugee protection: protection, rights recognition and access to services; decent work and employment; and diaspora contributions to development.
Initiated by UNITAR, its partners in the Mayoral Forum include the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Bank’s Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), the Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI), in addition to UNU-GCM, UNFPA, and the IOM.
The Third Mayoral Forum on Migration and Development will take place in Quezon City, Philippines from 20 to 21 September 2016.