World governance: a glimmer of hope?

Does the rise of populism jeopardize the process established by Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, to establish a multilateral management of migrations involving countries of origin, host countries, trade unions, employers, associations, churches, international organizations, NGOs, and experts? The process began in 2003 in Geneva with the Geneva Migration Group, involving major international organizations (OIG) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It later evolved into the Global Migration Group and, in 2006, the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which met annually to address the most critical situations worldwide. Then, the Syrian crisis led the UN to organize a conference on migrations, laying the groundwork for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, released in 2018 in Marrakech. Signed by the majority of world states, providing an opportunity for several Southern countries to voice their concerns (Mexico, Morocco, as well as Nepal or Bangladesh), the Compact consists of a migration component and an asylum component, with 25 proposals for the former and five for the latter. It serves as a guiding principle, under the oversight of the United Nations General Assembly for the migration component and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the asylum component. The goal is to make migration a ‘global public good,’ beneficial for migrants, countries of origin, and host countries. However, it faces challenges from the sovereigntist policies of the signing states, in contradiction with its guidelines, as its subtitle is ‘For Safe, Orderly, and Regular Immigration.’