More legal channels for migration are needed to ensure refugees’ protection, and help migrants have access to decent work in destination countries, international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has said.

As the Global Forum on Migration and Development came to a close in Istanbul last week, ACT Alliance said that there is a clear need to address the systemic issues underlying the global migrant and refugee crisis debate to ensure a rights-based approach to related policy.

The Global Forum, which met from 14-16 October, brought together governments and civil society to discuss migration issues tied in to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, recruitment reform, migrants in crisis and related xenophobia.

“States have to protect human rights and labour rights, which form the cornerstone of fairer migration policies by ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,” said Sophia Wirsching, Chair of the ACT Alliance Community of Practice on Migration and Development. “This provides the means and the guidance to transform rights into effective tools to promote broader prosperity and realize sustainable development and ensure dignity for all, including for migrants.”

While the alliance welcomed the inclusion of migrants and migration in five of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, it also stated that there was an urgent need for civil society to be effectively included in the formulation of indicators for the relevant targets, which are due in March 2016.

“The joint civil societies’ position for goals and targets of the global development agenda follows a human-centered, rights-based approach,” said Wirsching. “Migration is not a singled out phenomena but is linked to various dimensions of peoples’ struggles for equality, dignity, decent work and human rights. For these issues to be effectively addressed and resolved it is imperative that we have far more regular dialogue between civil society and governments on issues of migration and development. This is what will lead to more substantive engagement and sustainable results.”

More legal channels for migration are needed to ensure refugees’ protection, and help migrants have access to decent work in destination countries, international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has said.

As the Global Forum on Migration and Development came to a close in Istanbul last week, ACT Alliance said that there is a clear need to address the systemic issues underlying the global migrant and refugee crisis debate to ensure a rights-based approach to related policy.

The Global Forum, which met from 14-16 October, brought together governments and civil society to discuss migration issues tied in to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, recruitment reform, migrants in crisis and related xenophobia.

“States have to protect human rights and labour rights, which form the cornerstone of fairer migration policies by ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,” said Sophia Wirsching, Chair of the ACT Alliance Community of Practice on Migration and Development. “This provides the means and the guidance to transform rights into effective tools to promote broader prosperity and realize sustainable development and ensure dignity for all, including for migrants.”

While the alliance welcomed the inclusion of migrants and migration in five of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, it also stated that there was an urgent need for civil society to be effectively included in the formulation of indicators for the relevant targets, which are due in March 2016.

“The joint civil societies’ position for goals and targets of the global development agenda follows a human-centered, rights-based approach,” said Wirsching. “Migration is not a singled out phenomena but is linked to various dimensions of peoples’ struggles for equality, dignity, decent work and human rights. For these issues to be effectively addressed and resolved it is imperative that we have far more regular dialogue between civil society and governments on issues of migration and development. This is what will lead to more substantive engagement and sustainable results.”

More legal channels for migration are needed to ensure refugees’ protection, and help migrants have access to decent work in destination countries, international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has said.

As the Global Forum on Migration and Development came to a close in Istanbul last week, ACT Alliance said that there is a clear need to address the systemic issues underlying the global migrant and refugee crisis debate to ensure a rights-based approach to related policy.

The Global Forum, which met from 14-16 October, brought together governments and civil society to discuss migration issues tied in to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, recruitment reform, migrants in crisis and related xenophobia.

“States have to protect human rights and labour rights, which form the cornerstone of fairer migration policies by ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,” said Sophia Wirsching, Chair of the ACT Alliance Community of Practice on Migration and Development. “This provides the means and the guidance to transform rights into effective tools to promote broader prosperity and realize sustainable development and ensure dignity for all, including for migrants.”

While the alliance welcomed the inclusion of migrants and migration in five of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, it also stated that there was an urgent need for civil society to be effectively included in the formulation of indicators for the relevant targets, which are due in March 2016.

“The joint civil societies’ position for goals and targets of the global development agenda follows a human-centered, rights-based approach,” said Wirsching. “Migration is not a singled out phenomena but is linked to various dimensions of peoples’ struggles for equality, dignity, decent work and human rights. For these issues to be effectively addressed and resolved it is imperative that we have far more regular dialogue between civil society and governments on issues of migration and development. This is what will lead to more substantive engagement and sustainable results.”

ACT member International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is responding to the urgent needs of the Ukraine conflict’s most vulnerable victims with emergency food assistance for 900 children under age three living in areas directly affected by the violence in Eastern Ukraine.

Nearly two years of armed conflict has driven 1.5 million Ukrainian people from their homes.  UNICEF estimates that nearly 180,000 of those displaced are children.

Among the most severely impacted are infants and toddlers, as well as mothers with special needs children.

As Ukraine’s brief autumn turns into winter, the living conditions these children face will only worsen.

IOCC, working in cooperation with a local relief partner, is distributing kits containing essential baby food and hygiene items such as infant formula, baby cereal, juice, and baby wipes.

The kits are being directed to vulnerable families living in Svyatogirsk, a small town in the Donetsk region sheltering the highest number of displaced families; and to Svetlodarsk in the Donetsk region and Bryanka in the Luhansk region.

Families in these two towns live near the front line of conflict.  They face hunger daily as food prices climb and supplies grow scarcer due to damaged roadways and ongoing fighting restricting the movement of commerce in these volatile regions.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to deteriorate as the number of Ukrainians in need of assistance has now reached a total of five million people.

For information on how you can help click here

ACT member International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is responding to the urgent needs of the Ukraine conflict’s most vulnerable victims with emergency food assistance for 900 children under age three living in areas directly affected by the violence in Eastern Ukraine.

Nearly two years of armed conflict has driven 1.5 million Ukrainian people from their homes.  UNICEF estimates that nearly 180,000 of those displaced are children.

Among the most severely impacted are infants and toddlers, as well as mothers with special needs children.

As Ukraine’s brief autumn turns into winter, the living conditions these children face will only worsen.

IOCC, working in cooperation with a local relief partner, is distributing kits containing essential baby food and hygiene items such as infant formula, baby cereal, juice, and baby wipes.

The kits are being directed to vulnerable families living in Svyatogirsk, a small town in the Donetsk region sheltering the highest number of displaced families; and to Svetlodarsk in the Donetsk region and Bryanka in the Luhansk region.

Families in these two towns live near the front line of conflict.  They face hunger daily as food prices climb and supplies grow scarcer due to damaged roadways and ongoing fighting restricting the movement of commerce in these volatile regions.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to deteriorate as the number of Ukrainians in need of assistance has now reached a total of five million people.

For information on how you can help click here

ACT member International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is responding to the urgent needs of the Ukraine conflict’s most vulnerable victims with emergency food assistance for 900 children under age three living in areas directly affected by the violence in Eastern Ukraine.

Nearly two years of armed conflict has driven 1.5 million Ukrainian people from their homes.  UNICEF estimates that nearly 180,000 of those displaced are children.

Among the most severely impacted are infants and toddlers, as well as mothers with special needs children.

As Ukraine’s brief autumn turns into winter, the living conditions these children face will only worsen.

IOCC, working in cooperation with a local relief partner, is distributing kits containing essential baby food and hygiene items such as infant formula, baby cereal, juice, and baby wipes.

The kits are being directed to vulnerable families living in Svyatogirsk, a small town in the Donetsk region sheltering the highest number of displaced families; and to Svetlodarsk in the Donetsk region and Bryanka in the Luhansk region.

Families in these two towns live near the front line of conflict.  They face hunger daily as food prices climb and supplies grow scarcer due to damaged roadways and ongoing fighting restricting the movement of commerce in these volatile regions.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to deteriorate as the number of Ukrainians in need of assistance has now reached a total of five million people.

For information on how you can help click here

As the UN General Assembly post-2015 Summit closes today, ACT Alliance calls on governments to take clear responsibility for financing the implementation of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The global humanitarian and development network said that to ensure synergy between global policy and national realities, governments must fund sustainable development and poverty eradication projects primarily through domestic resource mobilisation, such as building progressive and just tax systems, and realising the commitments to Official Development Assistance (ODA) that wealthy states have made to developing states.

ACT Alliance said that while private sector funding is also essential for the effective implementation of the SDGs, they should not be the primary source and will require safeguards to ensure that investments positively impact those living in poverty and do not exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities.

“While we celebrate the accomplishment of the SDGs as a political decision made by states, in order to move forward effectively, funding for the SDGs should come from states first and foremost,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary. “Private sector funds are an important and welcome contribution to global development, particularly in the areas of job creation and infrastructure development and maintenance; however, essential public services should never be the responsibility of business. This is a duty of the state. While all funds dedicated to social and economic sustainable development are welcome, governments must ensure that people, not profits, are at the heart of any funding scheme.”

“Poverty is a construct of human greed and the existing systems of power,” Nduna continued. “To effectively address the root-causes of poverty, we cannot sustain the current paradigm of an ultra-rich minority and an ultra-poor majority. Our hope in the ambitious SDG agenda is that governments will seek to address global inequalities, promote better governance and universally apply them – meaning that all countries will be held to the same standard, benefitting those in both absolute and relative poverty.”

ACT Alliance has been engaging with the United Nations and its member states on sustainable development policy dialogue since 2012, particularly focusing on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change, inequalities, peace and security and good governance which it sees as essential to eradicate the systems that create and maintain poverty.

The 17 SDGs are global goals that have been adopted by governments and now replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As the UN General Assembly post-2015 Summit closes today, ACT Alliance calls on governments to take clear responsibility for financing the implementation of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The global humanitarian and development network said that to ensure synergy between global policy and national realities, governments must fund sustainable development and poverty eradication projects primarily through domestic resource mobilisation, such as building progressive and just tax systems, and realising the commitments to Official Development Assistance (ODA) that wealthy states have made to developing states.

ACT Alliance said that while private sector funding is also essential for the effective implementation of the SDGs, they should not be the primary source and will require safeguards to ensure that investments positively impact those living in poverty and do not exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities.

“While we celebrate the accomplishment of the SDGs as a political decision made by states, in order to move forward effectively, funding for the SDGs should come from states first and foremost,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary. “Private sector funds are an important and welcome contribution to global development, particularly in the areas of job creation and infrastructure development and maintenance; however, essential public services should never be the responsibility of business. This is a duty of the state. While all funds dedicated to social and economic sustainable development are welcome, governments must ensure that people, not profits, are at the heart of any funding scheme.”

“Poverty is a construct of human greed and the existing systems of power,” Nduna continued. “To effectively address the root-causes of poverty, we cannot sustain the current paradigm of an ultra-rich minority and an ultra-poor majority. Our hope in the ambitious SDG agenda is that governments will seek to address global inequalities, promote better governance and universally apply them – meaning that all countries will be held to the same standard, benefitting those in both absolute and relative poverty.”

ACT Alliance has been engaging with the United Nations and its member states on sustainable development policy dialogue since 2012, particularly focusing on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change, inequalities, peace and security and good governance which it sees as essential to eradicate the systems that create and maintain poverty.

The 17 SDGs are global goals that have been adopted by governments and now replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As the UN General Assembly post-2015 Summit closes today, ACT Alliance calls on governments to take clear responsibility for financing the implementation of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The global humanitarian and development network said that to ensure synergy between global policy and national realities, governments must fund sustainable development and poverty eradication projects primarily through domestic resource mobilisation, such as building progressive and just tax systems, and realising the commitments to Official Development Assistance (ODA) that wealthy states have made to developing states.

ACT Alliance said that while private sector funding is also essential for the effective implementation of the SDGs, they should not be the primary source and will require safeguards to ensure that investments positively impact those living in poverty and do not exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities.

“While we celebrate the accomplishment of the SDGs as a political decision made by states, in order to move forward effectively, funding for the SDGs should come from states first and foremost,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary. “Private sector funds are an important and welcome contribution to global development, particularly in the areas of job creation and infrastructure development and maintenance; however, essential public services should never be the responsibility of business. This is a duty of the state. While all funds dedicated to social and economic sustainable development are welcome, governments must ensure that people, not profits, are at the heart of any funding scheme.”

“Poverty is a construct of human greed and the existing systems of power,” Nduna continued. “To effectively address the root-causes of poverty, we cannot sustain the current paradigm of an ultra-rich minority and an ultra-poor majority. Our hope in the ambitious SDG agenda is that governments will seek to address global inequalities, promote better governance and universally apply them – meaning that all countries will be held to the same standard, benefitting those in both absolute and relative poverty.”

ACT Alliance has been engaging with the United Nations and its member states on sustainable development policy dialogue since 2012, particularly focusing on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change, inequalities, peace and security and good governance which it sees as essential to eradicate the systems that create and maintain poverty.

The 17 SDGs are global goals that have been adopted by governments and now replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

• restoring right relationships among people
• affirming human dignity, and
• opening the door to the holistic development of all people