The Second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) took place from Monday, 4 May to Friday, 8 May 2026 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This gathering brought together Member State representatives (government delegations) and civil society organizations (migrant associations, NGOs, researchers, among others). The Forum follows up on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) adopted in 2018. Since CLC has consultative status as NGO and it is part of NGO Migration committee at UN, the community sent also a delegation: Ann Marie Brennan (USA / UN Working Group) and Franklin Ibañez (Peru / World Council).
There were many side events organized by State representatives and/or civil society organizations. We attended several events and had meetings with based faith organization (Franciscan international, Jesuit Network for Migration, etc) but also with no faith organization (International Detention coalition or Bloque latinoamericano de migraciones). When State representatives were self-reporting on the progress of the implementation of the Compact, they were too positive and probably made up some figures. That’s why it is important that NGO attend events like this: to contrast and monitor the progress to make it more realistic. We tried to express part of the stories and concerns from our members and Ignatian Christian view.
The Forum ended with a declaration document, close to the spirit of the Global Compact. The final draft (approved the last day of the IMRF) emphasis Human rights and dignity: people matter more than figures. The main worry from civil society representatives is that goods docs are beautiful declarations most of the time, so that an ongoing process of surveillance, advocacy and networking must continue at different levels: local, regional and global.[1] An action plan to follow up the Forum is going to be suggested by the coordinators of the NGO Migration committee.
[1] The Global compact is not legally binding so that many governments (like USA or Israel) have not signed it.
