PHL Calls for a Migrant and Human Rights-Centered Migration Regime 

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, Honorable Sarah Lou Y. Arriola (center) led an inter-agency Philippine delegation to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) preparatory stocktaking meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 4-6 December 2017. The GCM is expected to be adopted in an intergovernmental conference in December 2018.

07 December 2017 PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO — The Philippine delegation to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) preparatory stocktaking meeting, speaking through its head of delegation, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Honorable Sarah Lou Y. Arriola, called for a migration regime that is migrant-centric and firmly anchored in human rights. 

Undersecretary Arriola explained that “the Philippines views the GCM to be resting on three pillars. First, it should migrant-centered. Second, respect and protection of human rights is its underlying framework. And third, international cooperation and shared responsibility of States are of utmost importance to the success of GCM.”

“It cannot be overemphasized that the GCM is a multi-stakeholder undertaking that entails national and transnational commitments, international cooperation, and action,” she added.

Around 800 migration experts from all over the world representing the majority of the members States of the United Nations are participating in the GCM preparatory stocktaking meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 4-6 December 2017.

The Philippine delegation is composed of representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and the National Development Authority. END

For more information, visit www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/genevapcg.