CSO Joint Letter:

We write to you at a moment that carries both the weight of unmet commitments and the promise

of renewed action. The Second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) brings together

governments, international organizations, and civil society at a juncture when the global migration

governance system is under significant strain and when course correction is both necessary and

possible.

Eight years after the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

(GCM) in 2018, the rights of migrants and forcibly displaced people continue to be eroded in

practice. This is not primarily because the commitments are absent from policy documents; it is

because they are inconsistently applied, insufficiently resourced, and in many contexts

subordinated to short-term political considerations.

Those of us working in civil society are witnessing, on a daily basis, what aggregate data alone

cannot fully convey: people pushed back at borders without individual assessments; refugees

returned to precarious conditions without adequate reintegration support; migrants excluded from

healthcare and education by law or by practice; communities displaced by conflict and climate

change with no predictable legal pathway to safety. Civil society organizations (CSOs) have been

working to address these gaps by providing direct assistance, monitoring rights conditions,

contributing evidence to policymaking processes, and acting as bridges between migrant

communities and institutional frameworks. Yet the civic space in which we operate continues to

narrow, and our contributions remain insufficiently recognized within formal governance

structures.

The Second IMRF is not merely a technical review exercise. It represents a meaningful opportunity

to assess what has and has not worked, to strengthen the accountability architecture of the GCM,

and to reaffirm the political commitment that the Compact requires to deliver on its promise. We

write in that spirit, and we invite all participants to engage with the concerns and proposals set

out in this letter.

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