A new effort to encourage governments and other stakeholders around the world to make ambitious commitments and pledges to safeguard family unity in migration policies and procedures was launched this week at the United Nations. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) Family Unity Initiative is a global, multistakeholder partnership to promote family reunification. As a cosponsor of the launch, KIND President Wendy Young shared remarks at the event, which was part of the week-long International Migration Review Forum, the primary global platform for reviewing progress on the implementation of the Global Compact.
KIND President Wendy Young:
KIND is proud to be co-sponsoring the launch of this new GCM Family Unity Initiative. As the leading international NGO dedicated to the protection of unaccompanied and separated children, family life and family unity are central to KIND’s work.
Whether children migrate alone or are separated from their families along their journeys, family separation is the backdrop to every unaccompanied child’s story.
Our staff and pro-bono partners witness first-hand every day how family separation is an enduring trauma with life-long impacts on a child’s health, well-being and development, and how these traumas negatively impact children’s ability to integrate, thrive and contribute to their communities.
I think the best way I can explain what family separation means to children is through the story of one of our clients: Irina, a 7-year-old little girl from El Salvador who fled with her family to the United States.
Irina was separated from her father when she was turned away at the border. After several months of separation, KIND helped to reunite Irina with her family. In the words of Irina’s father: “[The moment that I was reunited with my daughter] for me was one where I felt like I was finally living again. It felt like breathing again. Seeing her again gave me so much relief, such overwhelming joy…it’s hard to explain. She ran to me and hugged me and said ‘Daddy, I missed you so much’. And I told her ‘Now you are with me, that is the most important thing. Now we can be happy.’”
This Family Unity Initiative is a critical and much-needed response to the lack of safe, dignified and family-centered pathways available to people on the move.
We are incredibly grateful to the governments of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay for their leadership in stepping forward as champion countries for family unity.
But obviously our work is not done. We need more of you to step up—from Member States, to UN and civil society partners. Now is the time to invest in safe, dignified and family-centered migration pathways.
It’s no secret that we are currently in the midst of a global back-tracking on human rights and the protection of people on the move. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the goal of expanding access to family unity and family reunification—even in these difficult times—is possible.
We have years of experience and promising practices to build on. Just last week KIND published a mapping of promising practices in family reunification for unaccompanied and separated children, together with the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN).
This mapping identified over 40 promising practices from more than 30 countries across all regions—everything from governments who have adopted laws and policies to uphold the right to family unity; to NGOs who are providing legal assistance and information; or States who have invested in cross‑border cooperation and case management.
These practices demonstrate that we not only have the knowledge and tools needed to uphold family unity, but that many of you are already doing so with incredible results.
As we launch this initiative today, please know that KIND is committed to working with your governments and with our UN and civil society partners to continue to build on and expand these good practices.
Thank you.
