The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) addressed the first session of the International Dialogue on Migration organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on 29 February and 1 March 2016 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
PAM was represented by Jordanian MPs, Hon. Saad Al Balawi and Hon. Khair Aldeen Hakouz.
Hon. Al Balawi said that at the Mediterranean level, a harmonized legislative framework to facilitate growth and integration is indeed urgently needed. On this very topic, he added, PAM is ready to contribute to the efforts of the international community, through its legislative mandate, to achieve sustainable development. PAM already has the instruments to contribute to this process: the PAM Panel on Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean and the PAM Academic Platform.
“In addition to the humanitarian need, we have to take into account the consequences of these unprecedented migratory flows that are wounding the Mediterranean”, Hon. Balawi said.
Therefore, for the Assembly it is a priority to foster cooperation at the regional level in order to guarantee, to the peoples of the Mediterranean region, an adequate access to food supply, potable water and energy resources through a sustainable development strategy, because these issues undermine the wellbeing of the Mediterranean citizens, as well as the political and social stability of the region.
To this effect, Hon. Aldeen Hakouz, said that PAM has called on its delegates to mobilise their national parliaments to reaffirm the traditional values of generosity and solidarity. “Courageous political decisions at both the national and regional levels are needed”, Hon. Aldeen Hakouz concluded.
The workshop gathered some 300 participants including high level United Nations representatives, ministerial level government representatives as well as other high-level government officials, parliamentarians, and key focal points on migration and SDGs from international organizations, NGOs, academia, the private sector and media.
The workshop looked at options for “thematic review” of migration related Sustainable Development Goals targets. Themes addressed addressed by the workshop included, inter alia: Reviewing the evidence for migration in development; Methods for monitoring migration related targets in SDGs; Shape of a thematic review on migration in the SDGs and the Role for IOs in achieving of migration-related SDGs targets