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General Assembly chief calls for re-think in debate on migration

General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser

General Assembly chief calls for re-think in debate on migration

On the eve of a landmark United Nations conference on the world’s refugees and stateless people, the General Assembly President today called for a reframing of the debate about international migration to ensure that its benefits are better understood.

“Migration provides a force for good, contributing significantly to human development,” said Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser in an address to the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, citing the businesses established, the jobs created and the millions in remittances sent home by migrants.

Migration is no longer dominated by moves from developing countries to affluent States, with “new migration poles” emerging in Asia, Africa and South America to meet labour demands in those areas.

Mr. Al-Nasser warned that the discussion about migration “has reached a worrying imbalance. The fear of the ‘other’ has become more acute since the onset of the other world financial and economic crisis. Migrants have increasingly become the targets of racist and intolerant attitudes and practices.”

Mr. Al-Nasser called on countries to strengthen their cooperation to maximize the benefits of international migrants and to minimize its negative consequences.

The Assembly President spoke at the launch of IOM’s annual global migration report, which found that migrants’ voices need to be better heard in the debate about migration, especially during economic downturns when discussions often include negative stereotyping and even xenophobia.

The report stresses that this does not mean the debate on migration should be uncritical. Rather, it should be based on an open discussion that tackles misinformation.

“Accurately informing the wider public about migration may be the single most important policy tool in all societies faced with increasing diversity,” said William Lacy Swing, IOM Director General.

In a separate Newsmaker interview with the UN News Centre, Mr. Swing noted that “there are more people on the move than at any other time in recorded history,” with about 215 million international migrants and 740 million domestic migrants.

“You would think at a time like this that migration would be something that is very welcome, but in point of fact, the cruel irony is that more and more governments are turning inward, borders are being closed, visa regimes are being tightened and there is less and less opportunity for migration to occur on a legal basis, so a lot of people are being pushed into the hands of traffickers,” he said.

Tomorrow, representatives of at least 145 countries are set to gather in Geneva for the start of a two-day conference on refugees and statelessness that is being organized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The conference, which will be addressed by High Commissioner António Guterres, is being held to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.