From commitments to reality: British Red Cross humanitarian priorities for the International Migration Review Forum

As United Nations Member States from around the world meet for the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) in New York, this policy report outlines insights on humanitarian priorities. Drawing on policy and practice dialogues, Red Cross and Red Crescent research and learnings from operational experience since the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), this report highlights key considerations relating to humanitarian assistance and protection, access to essential services and climate change and mobility.

Alongside Red Cross and Red Crescent insights from around the world, it explores the role of the UK Government in these humanitarian priority areas and highlights recommendations for future action to deliver the GCM commitments. Examples from North Africa and the Sahel to the UK highlight how humanitarian assistance can mitigate but not prevent vulnerabilities, which are often created or exacerbated by laws, policies and practices. Elsewhere, evidence from Sudan and Mali emphasises how climate change is likely to exacerbate existing challenges and vulnerabilities for people on the move.

Four years on from the adoption of the GCM, the IMRF serves as the main intergovernmental platform to discuss progress on its implementation. The IMRF provides a key opportunity to reaffirm commitments and principles of the GCM and a critical moment to take stock of progress.

The UK Government has played an important role at the multilateral level since it endorsed the GCM in 2018. At times, the UK has taken on a leading role on the international stage in priority areas and, at the national level, has participated in discussions with UK civil society. As this policy report highlights, significant areas remain where further progress is needed, particularly in terms of the domestic implementation of the GCM in the UK context.