The France GFMD 2024 Chairmanship

Under the overarching theme ‘From environmental concerns to cultural aspects of migration: adopting an inclusive approach to meet the challenges and increase the opportunities for human mobility’,  the Government of France took on the Chairmanship in 2022, culminating in a GFMD Summit from 23 – 25 January 2024. Throughout the Chairmanship, Mayors Mechanism worked closely with the Chair, the other GFMD mechanisms and the GFMD Secretariat to provide feedback on the thematic priorities and organizational elements of the chairmanship.

The June GFMD Thematic Workshops 

On 26 June 2023, and on the sidelines of the GFMD Workshops, the GFMD Working Group on Balancing Migration Narratives, co-chaired by the governments of Canada, Ecuador and the GFMD Mayors Mechanism, met in-person to discuss future strategy and workplan. 

On 27 and 28 June 2023, the GFMD community met in Paris for two thematic workshops: Culture, Narratives and Human Mobility & Climate and Human Mobility. The representatives from the cities of Casablanca – Morocco, São Paulo - Brazil, Paris - France and Mardan - Pakistan, spoke in various sessions across the programme. 

On the side-lines of the GFMD workshops, the City of Paris also hosted a technical exchange for cities on Tuesday, 27 June to discuss the results of the “Climate Migration in Urban Areas: Challenges, Representations and Inclusion” project developed by the City of Paris and IOM.  This workshop was offered as part of the Call to Local Action Peer Learning. 

See our summer updates for more information.

Participation in the GFMD Friends of the Forum

The Friends of the Forum serves as a platform for the GFMD Chair to inform all Friends of the Forum members of Forum-related developments. The Forum also serves to advise the Chair on the GFMD Summit and discusses other issues such as the GFMD Working Groups and GFMD preparatory meetings. The GFMD Mechanisms are invited to participate and share updates in this Forum. Here you can find all our statements.

The GFMD Summit

The Summit brought together over 1300 participants, representing over 123 countries, from national and local governments, civil society, the private sector and youth.  28 local governments representatives joined the Summit, of which 19 spoke in the Summit’s  sessions as panelists, each elevating the Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees. 

As a key milestone, the GFMD Mayors Mechanism hosted a networking meeting on Localizing Global Migration Goals to Accelerate the 2030 Agenda. 

The GFMD Mayors Mechanism, together with the governments of Azerbaijan and Kenya, also co-chaired Thematic Roundtable 6 on Multi-level Governance, an interactive dialogue with representatives from the City of Barranquilla, Morocco, Germany, and the World Bank.  

Read our press release here.