This side event is hosted by the International Migration Research Centre, taking place at the 2026 International Migration Review Forum at the UN Headquarters in New York City, USA.
PLEASE NOTE: This event will take place at the UN Headquarters, Secretariat Building, Conference Room 11, New York. No registration required.
Digital technologies are increasingly shaping migration governance. Across regions, digital tools are being integrated into migration and border processes to enhance efficiency, improve coordination, strengthen identity management, and support service delivery. In many contexts, digital systems have contributed to faster processing, improved data accuracy, strengthened search and rescue capacities, and more streamlined administrative procedures. When developed and deployed in line with international law and embedded within clear legal frameworks and effective human rights safeguards, such technologies can reinforce protection-sensitive migration governance and help advance the Objectives and Guiding Principles of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).
As digitalization accelerates, the central question is therefore not whether technology should play a role in migration governance, but how it can be governed in ways that maximize its benefits while preventing or mitigating human rights risks. From a development cooperation perspective, digital and data-based approaches have also offered opportunities to support countries of origin, transit and destination in strengthening migration governance systems, improving access to services, facilitating
skills recognition and financial inclusion, and generating evidence to inform sustainable and inclusive policy responses.
Thus, leveraging the debate opportunity presented by the presence of Member States and stakeholders present at the IMRF 2026 this Side Event aims to examine how digital technology tools can meaningfully advance GCM implementation, in a manner consistent with its Objectives and Guiding Principles. In particular, the discussion will explore how digitalization intersects with GCM Objective 1 (collection and utilization of accurate and disaggregated data), Objective 7 (addressing and reducing (vulnerabilities), Objective 11 (managing borders in a secure and coordinated manner), Objective 12 (strengthening certainty and predictability in migration procedures), Objective 13 (using detention only as a measure of last resort and developing alternatives), Objective 17 (eliminating discrimination and promoting evidence-based public discourse), and Objective 23 (strengthening international cooperation and global partnerships). The exchange will further examine how the GCM’s Guiding Principles provide a practical framework for governing digital innovation in migration contexts.
Co-organizers: International Detention Coalition (IDC), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Co-sponsors: Canada, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, Malawi (TBC), Thailand (TBC), Morocco, Peru, Uruguay, Cornell Law School Migration and Human Rights Program, Migration+Technology Hub, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
