The second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) ended on Friday 8 May in New York with the adoption of a declaration of progress committing the participants to transforming the intentions of the Global Compact for Migration into concrete action.
Organised every four years to assess the global governance of migration flows, the IMRF brought together UN member states, civil society and several international organisations, including the European Union - represented by Magnus Brunner, European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs.
The Declaration calls on States to “facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration” and to “strengthen capacities for border management”, while guaranteeing respect for the “human rights of all migrants”.
It encourages the creation of partnerships for “route-based cooperation” - a strategy at the heart of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which comes into force next month. Particular attention is paid to the need to “save lives and prevent migrant deaths and injuries, as well as to prevent disappearances”, especially on the routes to Europe.
The document also urges a reduction in the cost of remittances, which reached a record $685 billion to low- and middle-income countries in 2024: an amount now greater than official development assistance and foreign direct investments combined.
Presented at the Forum, the 2026 Report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) points to a drastic acceleration in crises, with 120 million people in situations of forced displacement. Among them, the number of internally displaced persons has doubled in a decade to 83.4 million, and 45.8 million new movements have been caused by climatic disasters. These disturbances have been described as “immediate drivers of mobility towards the European continent”.
Finally, the report highlights the economic role of immigration for the EU, noting for example that France is the world’s fourth largest recipient of remittances ($38.8 billion) thanks to the salaries of its cross-border commuters. The IOM reiterates the importance of legal channels, arguing that a sufficient supply of “regular pathways” is the only alternative to irregular mobility in the face of global crises.
Declaration of progress: https://aeur.eu/f/luy
The IOM annual report: https://aeur.eu/f/luz (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)