If countries help educate incoming migrants and refugees, they will no longer be viewed as a problem, but a valuable resource, said one 20-year-old from Côte d’Ivoire, speaking on behalf of young people, ahead of the adoption of the new UN Global Compact for Migration in Marrakech, Morocco.

Kader Diabate made the voyage alone to Italy on one of the world’s most dangerous routes – through Niger and Libya, and across the Mediterranean Sea.

He shared his experience as a refugee at the art exhibition “Journey of a Young Migrant: Bringing Stories Alive Through Art”,  co-hosted in Marrakech by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Moroccan Government.

Mr. Diabate spoke to UN News’s Mustafa Al Gamal about his extraordinary journey, saying that in risking his life at sea, he preferred to be “eaten by the fish” than killed by human beings.