Civil Society in the GFMD – a case of pragmatism or patronizing? GFMD 2012 ________________________________________________________________ Blog by Stefan Rother Civil Society has to be pragmatic, should be lauded for its signs of maturity to focus on action and not on rhetoric and work with governments and not against them: Statements like these have been part and parcel of the GFMD since its very beginning, but were especially frequent during this years meeting in Mauritius. Should they be considered sound assessments of the growing cooperation between Civil Society and government delegates - or rather as indicators of a patronizing attitude towards Civil Society at the GFMD? At least one delegate opted for the latter: Mohammad Harun Rashid from CARAM Asia made it clear that he considered the statement by a Mauritian government official that civil society should not work against governments and had no mandate of its own to be very offensive - because we elected the governments to work for us! Thus, the role of Civil Society at the GFMD remains a double-edged sword: Should it fundamentally question the Mantra of the migration-development rhetoric and instead aim to focus the debate on issues like the militarization of borders, the commodification of labour and the necessity to move the migration issue from the non-binding GFMD into the UN system? Or should it opt for a more pragmatic approach, at least temporarily accept the current framework in which migration is negotiated and try to improve the situation of migrants as much as possible within it? Peter Sutherland This balancing act is personified by the UN Special Representative for Migration Peter Sutherland. Once more he gave a refreshingly frank speech at the GFMD and made it clear that he presently sees no point in talking about fundamental issues - the theology of migration - but rather wants to focus on pressing problems like the situation of stranded migrants. He also stated that he was “not nostalgic for the times when we were distracted by what was happening at the parallel or at the anti-Forum”. Well, unlike the UN Special Representative for Migration, I am – or rather: I was, until I participated in the World Social Forum on Migration (WSFM) that started in Manila last week and provided space for an open discussion on alternatives to the current state-led migration discourse. You can find my reports from the WSFM (and the GFMDs since 2010 as well as the ILO deliberations on “decent work for domestic workers”) here. Stefan Rother works as a researcher on migration, International Relations and Southeast Asia at the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute for socio-cultural research and the University of Freiburg.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 04:43:28 +0000
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