Secretary-General Meets Heads of UN Regional Commissions Secretary-General António Guterres (centre left) meets with (left to right): Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA); Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE); and Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 21 February 2019 United Nations, New York

The Regional Coordination Mechanisms (RCM) were mandated by ECOSOC resolution 1998/46 of July 1998 (Annex III, B para 13).

The role and functions of the RCM in promoting coherence in policy and in regional and sub-regional programming are being reinvigorated within the new parameters and frameworks of UNDS strategic engagement in the regions. Its role is increasingly relevant in order to meet the integrated policy advice needs of the 2030 Agenda, strengthen the policy-operational linkage including in strategic planning and regional and subregional programming, avoid duplication and overlaps, and ensure a more coherent and robust accountability to ECOSOC and its oversight of the regional level results.

All five RCMs have taken action to align with the 2030 Agenda and their work feeds into the Regional Forums for Sustainable Development. While their working arrangements as well as the level of interaction with the regional-UNDG (R-UNDG) vary from region to region, efforts are being made now in all regions to convene the RCM and R-UNDG jointly or back to back, pending a broader repositioning of the regional level to be proposed and decided upon by Member States as an integral part of the UNDS repositioning to support implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Please click below for additional information on the five Regional Coordination Mechanisms. ECA ECLAC ESCAP ESCWA UNECE

As per General Assembly resolution 71/280 (2017) which requests the regional economic commissions, in collaboration with other relevant UN entities especially IOM, to organize discussions among member states and other relevant stakeholders to examine the regional and sub-regional aspects of international migration and to provide inputs, in accordance with their respective mandates, for the preparatory process of the global compact, preparations are underway under the leadership of the regional commissions for the respective regional consultations and supporting knowledge products which will provide regional and subregional perspectives on the six themes elaborated in resolution 71/280.

Attached is a living document reflecting the dates of the consultations and various knowledge products that the regional commissions will be producing in support of fulfilling the mandate in resolution 71/280. It will be continually updated as updates are available. For more information, please contact RCNYO at RCNYO1@un.org.

Mapping of Preparatory Regional Events for the Global Compact on Migration (English)

Please click HERE for information on all Regional Consultations on Migration