Download the full document in English here or in Italian here.

Today FOCSIV with GCAP Italy and Concord Italy releases the report Migration and Sustainable Development, which can be downloaded in Italian here and English versions. The webinar convenes representatives of the Council Presidency, Ministry of Labour and Social Affair, Ministry of Ecological Transition, Ministry of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation, OECD. The Vice Minister for International Cooperation attends the meeting.

It is the only national report of the Italian civil society that monitors migration with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact on Migration.  In this way we overcome the usual, trite and toxic political debate on migration as an emergency and a security problem, which condemns migrants to precariousness and tragedies at sea. Migration, as well as other social, environmental and economic issues, is an issue to be considered and included in the vision of sustainable development in Italy, Europe and countries of origin and transit.

It is essential to go beyond the continuous emergency and adopt a medium-long term vision that sees migration for sustainable development, in order to help overcome the slow social and economic decline in Italy.

The report wants to take part in the revision of the Italian strategy for sustainable development and in the policy coherence plan being discussed in the various institutions of the Italian Government and in the Forum for Sustainable Development, with the assistance of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The topic should also be part of the recovery and resilience plan for a complete coherence.

The report was prepared by FOCSIV with GCAP Italy, Concord Italy, in collaboration with the Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, the Ioaccolgo campaign and the networks of civil society organizations AOI, CINI and Link2007, thanks to the European project Faces of Migration.

The report analyzes the achievement of the objectives of sustainable development, in particular social, economic and political inclusion, with particular reference to migration. In addition to the internal dimension, space is given to the external dimension of cooperation relations with countries of origin and transit for the governance of migration and sustainable development. Particular attention is given to the need to build better coherence between the internal and external dimensions (the so called Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development) on the basis of human rights and the principle of leaving no one behind.

The report offers data and policy analysis, from which a series of recommendations emerge. Here we indicate the main ones:

– Sign the Global Compact on Migration and have a plan for policy coherence based on respect for human rights.

– Invest in the reception system and integration from a universalist perspective.

– Program safe and orderly channels for migration, from those for work reasons to those for asylum seekers, in a vision of sustainable recovery based on human rights, youth and women.

– To proceed quickly in the discussion of the popular initiative bill of the campaign “I was a foreigner”, and the proposal for the citizenship of new generations.

– Rediscuss the Agreement with Libya and the New Pact on Migration and Asylum to overcome the short term approach based on the control and externalization of borders.

– Invest in international cooperation for sustainable development to enhance migration and diasporas. In particular, it is a question of reaching an investment equal to 0.7% of gross national income as provided for in objective 17.2 of sustainable development, without diverting it for migration control purposes.

All this within a policy coherence plan. We therefore ask that the Wellbeing Italy Steering Committee, the Interministerial Committee for Sustainable Development and that on Development Cooperation, adopt this plan and monitor the implementation of the human rights indicators.

The vision of migration policy must change profoundly and be anchored to sustainable development. Migration policy must be considered together with policies of social inclusion, labor market, foreign policy and cooperation, to overcome the Italian decline, and to work under the sign of the European Union in the world, consistent bearer of the values of equality and freedom.

Download the full document in English here or in Italian here.