Humanitarian Affairs

GFMD

The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) was initiated in 2007 as a response to the wish of the international community to address the migration and development interconnections in practical and action-oriented ways. It was proposed by the UN Secretary-General and his Special Representative on International Migration and Development at the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (HLD) on 14-15 September 2006 within the framework of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

It marks the culmination of more than a decade of international discussion on the growing importance of these linkages, and the progressive acknowledgement of the need to address the policy implications and responses in a multilateral framework. Greece is one of the countries that hosted the GFMD in Athens in 2009.

Conceived as an informal, multilateral and State-led process, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is intended to add value to the current debate on international migration and development by fostering international cooperation, enhancing inter-State dialogue and discuss and promote new policy ideas in the field of migration and its interrelation with development.

Through a well-prepared, participative and sustained dialogue between developing and developed countries the Forum seeks to arrive at common and evidence-based understandings on those areas where migration policies have the greatest potential to contribute to development, and where development policies take greater account of migration and its potential benefits for development. The Forum is also intended to make explicit the growing recognition that international migration is a normal and crucial element in the development process.

For more information visit : www.gfmd.org