Govt launches migration compact taskforce

Bangladesh Government today launched the Bangladesh Migration Compact Taskforce to facilitate the implementation, follow up and review of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM).

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Secretary, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment secretary Dr. Ahmed Munirus Salehin co-chaired the launch event, held at the foreign ministry, a press release said. 

In his speech, the foreign secretary Masud reiterated Bangladesh's commitment to a rule-based international migration framework taking a 360°approach to promoting safe, orderly and regular migration.

"We would remain committed, despite the difficulties experienced in the last two years and more, to meaningfully deliver on our recognized role as a 'Champion Country' for the Global Compact on Migration (GCM)", he added. 

Secretary Salehin said the Taskforce will provide a consultative space for policy and decision-making coordination, information exchange and peer review, reports BSS. 

Former Foreign secretary and IOM Senior Advisor Md. Shahidul Haq indicated that the nature of human mobility and migration is getting more complex, and that it is impossible to deal with this issue without adopting a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.

He identified Bangladesh as a country of source, transit and destination. 

UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis said, "The newly launched Taskforce would be another step forward for Bangladesh's leadership towards ensuring the safety, dignity and human rights of all migrants".

She also lauded Bangladesh's leadership in global migration discourses.

IOM Mission Chief Abdulsattor Esoev said this Taskforce would reinforce Bangladesh's ongoing efforts to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration in the mixed migration context, by adding that this initiative is the first of its kind in the world in the field of migration. 

Representatives from other Ministries and agencies of the government took part in open discussions.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina first mooted the idea of GCM at the UN General Assembly in 2016. The Intra-governmental Taskforce has been launched as part of Bangladesh's ongoing initiatives to implement its priorities among the 23 GCM objectives, the release said. 

The government recently made a pledge to form this Taskforce during the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) held in May 2022 in New York to follow up progress on GCM implementation. 

The Taskforce will consult the Bangladesh UN Migration Network, comprising representatives from all relevant UN agencies, the release added.