“No State can address migration alone. Protecting the rights of migrant children and preserving family unity requires the same spirit of international cooperation and dialogue,” said Shahriyar Hajiyev, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations, while delivering a statement during an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on behalf of the GCM Champion Countries initiative at the Third Committee of the eighty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Azerbaijani diplomat delivered the statement on behalf of the 45 Champion Countries of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
“We thank the Special Rapporteur for his report and welcome its focus on children’s right to family life and family unity in the context of migration. The report highlights the importance of ensuring that the rights and best interests of children remain central to migration policies and practices.
As GCM Champion Countries, we remain particularly concerned about migrant children, especially those who are unaccompanied or separated from their parents or primary caregivers,” Hajiyev noted.
According to him, the 2026 IMRF Progress Declaration provides a clear basis for advancing this commitment in practice.
“This includes strengthening efforts to enhance and diversify pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration, including for family reunification, humanitarian purposes and regularization, in ways that promote the realization of the right to family life and family unity and uphold the best interests of the child.
It also means prioritizing non-custodial alternatives to detention, in line with obligations under international law, and striving to end the practice of child immigration detention,” he said.
The diplomat noted that the return and readmission processes must be conducted in full respect for the human rights of returnees, and the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all decisions affecting them, including through appropriate safeguards to ensure safe and dignified returns, due process, individual assessment and effective remedies.
“The GCM Champion Countries remain committed to working with all Member States, the Special Rapporteur, the United Nations Network on Migration and other stakeholders to turn the commitments of the 2026 IMRF into tangible improvements in the lives of migrants, their families and communities,” Hajiyev added.
