At a time when public discourse surrounding migration and asylum is increasingly polarised, especially in industrialised countries, the global migration governance framework is at a crossroads. This report examines contemporary global migration, with a particular focus on the effectiveness, robustness, and democratic credentials of the UN Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the UN Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).
The report identifies five challenges facing global migration governance: the limited access to labour mobility opportunities; the lack of effective access to international protection; the non-binding nature of the UN Global Compacts; the lack of effective accountability mechanisms to govern compact commitments; and the decline in funding for multilateral migration and refugee cooperation. While the first two challenges reflect long-standing, structural issues, the others stem specifically from the relatively new frameworks of the Global Compacts. Weakening international political leadership and recently announced funding cuts further compound these challenges.
The research reveals that the compacts have succeeded in bringing together and reaffirming a wide array of existing agreements on migration and refugees, albeit in a non-binding arrangement. The Migration Compact is particularly notable for its coverage of migration in all its forms and for offering migrants protection along their entire migratory journey, while also introducing innovative elements, such as recognising the effects of natural disasters, climate change, and environmental degradation on migration movements. Stakeholders identified the establishment of regularly organised platforms, which adopt a ‘whole of society’ approach to facilitate discussion and pledges on migration and refugee policies – such as the International Migration Review Forum and Global Refugee Forum – as valuable innovations stemming from the compacts.
The Global Compacts have succeeded in bringing together and reaffirming a wide array of existing agreements on migration and refugees, albeit in a non-binding arrangement.
Nonetheless, the compacts also suffer from significant limitations, including their non-binding nature, lack of permanent structures and human and financial resources to underpin their implementation, and lack of effective accountability mechanisms. A far-reaching, legally binding reform process could contribute to more effective and robust migration governance, but such a process is unlikely in the current political climate. Instead, targeted improvements – namely the introduction of a robust accountability mechanism – could be considered, though even these seem politically unlikely.
A more comprehensive reform of the global migration governance framework, currently being considered as a response to recent US funding cuts, involves merging various UN offices and agencies into a single entity. Yet deprioritising migration and interlinking it with other priorities in this way would likely render migration governance less robust, diverting financial resources elsewhere and minimising autonomy. Another trend is the increasing tendency for migration and refugee cooperation to occur entirely outside the UN framework. Minilateralism and bilateralism further weaken the global system in terms of its effectiveness and robustness, and at the same time fail to provide their own effective and robust modes of governance.
Key Findings:
- Global migration governance faces five central challenges: limited labour mobility, lack of protection, non-binding compacts, weak accountability, and declining funding.
- The Global Compacts reaffirm existing agreements and provide innovative elements, but remain non-binding and under-resourced.
- Platforms like the International Migration Review Forum and Global Refugee Forum enhance dialogue and inclusiveness but lack accountability.
- Far-reaching binding reforms are unlikely; even targeted improvements face political obstacles.
- Migration governance is drifting toward minilateral and bilateral cooperation, risking the further weakening of the global framework.
Citation Recommendation: Felix Peerboom, Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi, and Kai Michael Kenkel. 2025. “Transforming Global Migration Governance Through and Beyond the Global Compacts.” ENSURED Research Report, no. 13 (August): 1-43. https://www.ensuredeurope.eu.
*This report includes contributions by Andrey Makarychev.
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