INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY

Islamabad

Dr. Jassim Taqui DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, 17 December, UNSG message: On this International Migrants Day, we reflect on the lives of the over 280 million people who left their country in the universal pursuit of opportunity, dignity, freedom, and a better life.

 

Today, over 80 percent of the world’s migrants cross borders in a safe and orderly fashion.

 

This migration is a powerful driver of economic growth, dynamism, and understanding.

 

But unregulated migration along increasingly perilous routes – the cruel realm of traffickers – continues to extract a terrible cost.

 

Over the past eight years, at least 51,000 migrants have died – and thousands more have disappeared.

 

Behind each number is a human being – a sister, brother, daughter, son, mother, or father.

 

Migrant rights are human rights. They must be respected without discrimination – and irrespective of whether their movement is forced, voluntary, or formally authorized.

 

We must do everything possible to prevent the loss of life – as a humanitarian imperative and a moral and legal obligation.

We must provide for search and rescue efforts and medical care.

 

We must expand and diversify rights-based pathways for migration – to advance Sustainable Development Goals and address labor market shortages.

 

And we need greater international support for investments in countries of origin to ensure migration is a choice, not a necessity.

 

There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity.

 

Today and every day, let us safeguard our common humanity and secure the rights and dignity of all.