UN Pledges Support for International Migrants

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 4 2013 (IPS) - At a two-day high level dialogue on migration and development, member states adopted a Declaration calling for respect for human rights and international labour standards.

The meeting also reiterated the commitment of member states to fight human trafficking and strongly condemned racism and intolerance.

According to a press release, member States took actions to move forward on cooperating to reduce the dangers and costs of international migration, while stressing migration’s benefits. They also cited  the many complex issues related to international migration. The Declaration committed Member States to continue to address the opportunities and challenges presented by international migration in all countries.

“It is our collective responsibility to make migration work for the benefit of migrants and countries alike,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “We owe this to the millions of migrants who, through their courage, vitality and dreams, help make our societies more prosperous, resilient and diverse. Let us intensify our work and be sure to follow up.”

Member States agreed that the world’s 232 million international migrants make important contributions to the development of the countries of origin, transit and destination.  It was also agreed that the public perception of migrants and migration must be improved.  With women making up nearly half of all international migrants, it was agreed that more protections were needed for women migrants, particularly for those involved in domestic work.

Commitments were also made to prevent and combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling, while protecting victims. In the Declaration, Member States stressed the need for international cooperation to address the challenges of irregular migration with full respect for human rights. Regardless of migration status, Member States agreed to promote and protect the human rights of all migrants and to avoid approaches that might make irregular migrants more vulnerable.

Member States also connected the important contribution migrants make towards reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and stressed the need to consider migration in the post-2015 development agenda. Governments were encouraged to integrate migration into development planning, including considering ways to include diaspora groups.

“Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future,”  Ban said. “It is part of the social fabric, part of our very make-up as a human family. It would be naive to overlook the costs, including the human costs.  Yet even skeptics have to recognize that migration has become a fundamental part of our globalized world.”

The Secretary-General announced closer cooperation between the United Nations and the State-led Global Forum on Migration and Development. Ban also called on the Global Migration Group, which is comprised of 14 UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Organization for Migration, to improve coordination in the field and aid in building capacity of Governments to promote work on migration and development and to develop an action-oriented plan to follow up on the High-level Dialogue.

Ban also noted that in support of the work of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on International Migration, Peter Sutherland, the Philippines and the United States will lead an initiative to better assist migrant workers caught in humanitarian crises.

With more than 100 Government representatives addressing the main meeting, the Dialogue also offered the opportunity for a series of roundtables and side events.

The roundtables focused on different international migration issues, including how these issues relate to the post-2015 development agenda, human rights, partnerships and labour mobility. Representatives from 350 civil society organizations participated in the different discussions taking place around the Dialogue, according to the press release.