More than 280 million people have left their countries to pursue “opportunity, dignity, freedom, and a better life”, the UN chief said on Sunday, International Migrants Day.
The unsafe migration of people from Haiti could be reduced by a recycling initiative which is aimed at tackling environmental degradation.
In a message just ahead of International Migrants Day, celebrated on Saturday, the United Nations Secretary-General said that expressing solidarity with migrants on the move, “has never been more urgent.”
Although some people believe migrants arrive in countries to “steal” local jobs and take advantage of social services, these perceptions are not based in reality.
That’s the opinion of the UN Special Representative for International Migration, Louise Arbour, citing data showing the economic benefits these workers bring to the countries where they’ve settled and their own homelands.
The international community is in the process of devising a global agreement that fosters safe, regular and orderly migration, to be adopted next year.
The world should not have been “too surprised” by this year’s migrant and refugee crisis.
That’s according to the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), William Lacy Swing.
Mr Swing said that all the warning signs were there that a crisis involving the mass movement of people could soon be at hand in Europe and elsewhere.