Thomas Lacroix, « From a « De Facto » to a « De Jure » Role of Local Authorities in the Governance of International Migration », Research Handbook on the Institutions of Global Migration Governance, 2023

Nous vous signalons la parution d’un chapitre de Thomas Lacroix intitulé « From a De Facto to a De Jure Role of Local Authorities in the Governance of International Migration » dans le Research Handbook on the Institutions of Global Migration Governance édité par Edward Elgar Publishing.

Extract

In November 2018, the 5th Mayoral Forum on Human Mobility, Migration and Development took place in Marrakesh. The event went relatively unheeded, as it was overshadowed by the signing of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration by UN Member States, which took place at the same time. Yet the Mayoral Forum set in stone the presence of local authorities in the general framework of governance of international migration, just as the place of states was set out by the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and that of civil society by the World Social Forum on Migration. It represents the outcome of a long-standing process through which cities have gained recognition as key actors in the international management of migration flows.
Immigration has always been an issue for local authorities, but their role had so far been confined to the management of the communities settled in their constituencies. The creation of the Mayoral Forum is the outcome of a double movement: by allowing local authorities to take part in a conversation taking place at the global level, it signals a move beyond a focus on local issues, and at the same time a move beyond the questions of immigrant settlement and integration. This paper addresses the mobilisation of cities that led to the creation of the Mayoral Forum. This process belongs to the development of a form of city-based diplomacy, which has benefited from the impasses of intergovernmental cooperation on certain issues, including migration and climate change. The first part of the chapter presents an overview of these mobilisations. The proliferation of city networks, with or without the support of the European Union or international organisations, has given rise to a prominent voice from cities on migration issues. Drawing on a number of declarations, manifestos, and other statements delivered by selected networks, the second part of this chapter examines the different aspects of this ‘city voice.’ The last part of the chapter explains the process that led to the insertion of the Mayoral Forum in the institutional framework of migration governance and the Global Compact on Migration (GCM), demonstrating how long-standing demands from local authorities have filtered into the text of the GCM.