This article is published in association with United Nations.
What do more than half of all doctors in Australia, over 40 per cent of Nobel laureates from the United States, and most of the workforce in some Gulf States have in common?
They were all born elsewhere, part of the roughly 300 million people worldwide who have left their countries of origin whether to learn, work, reunite with family or pursue other opportunities.
Migrants contribute to society, including in their homelands, where they send a staggering $1 trillion in remittances each year – eclipsing Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) combined.
‘An inevitable human reality’
UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock shared this information, and more, as Member States met on Thursday to review progress towards implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, a 2018 international agreement that is voluntary and non-binding.
Ms. Baerbock noted that “migration is often treated as a new phenomenon, one that is heavily politicised, focusing on irregular movements, pressure on borders, or overstretched social welfare systems,” even though it has existed for thousands of years.
“Migration is an inevitable human reality,” she said.
“The question is not whether migration is good or bad. The question is whether we manage it well and manage it together, as every country today is either a country of origin, transit or destination—and most times even all three at once.”
Progress and setbacks
The International Migration Review Forum is held every four years and meaningful progress has been achieved since the Global Compact was adopted, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“Member States have taken concrete steps to expand regular pathways, strengthen labour mobility initiatives, improve search‑and‑rescue, enhance data systems, and support safer return and reintegration,” he said.
Yet his recent report, prepared for the meeting, reveals that “over four years, at least 200,000 victims were trafficked – most of them women and girls” while “in just two years, more than 15,000 people died or disappeared along migration routes.”
Moreover, “families and children continue to be detained, and countless workers remain exploited and excluded from labour protections.”
Make regularisation simpler
Natividad Obeso, a Peruvian woman who advocates for migrants and refugees in Argentina, stressed the need to ensure simpler and more humane regularisation processes.
“Migrant documentation shouldn’t be a privilege,” she said, speaking in Spanish. “It should be an accessible right, because when there are no papers, there is detention, fear and criminalisation.”
The benefits of migration are wide-ranging, according to Amy Pope, Director General of the International for Migration (IOM) and Coordinator of the UN Network on the issue.
When managed well, it creates opportunities, fills labour shortages, responds to demographic change, boosts economic growth, and strengthens development through remittances and skills transfers.
“But none of that, none of it, happens by accident,” she insisted. “It takes cooperation – across borders, across sectors, across institutions – to build systems that are orderly, that are fair, that people can trust.”
As no country can manage migration alone, the international community “must do better together,” the Secretary-General said, highlighting six ways to deliver on the Global Compact’s commitments.
Six action points
First, “migration governance must be anchored in dignity, humanity and rights”, he said, urging authorities to take measures such as ending discriminatory practices, ensuring due process, and halting the detention of children and families.
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Migration must also be made safer, which includes stronger cooperation to assist migrants in distress and to make sure any returns are safe and dignified, stressing “no refoulement, no disappearances, no torture.”
“Third, we must decisively crack down on smugglers and traffickers,” he continued, recommending that these transnational criminal networks be dealt with in the same way as drugs traffickers.
“It is not acceptable that we do so little, by comparison, to stop the smuggling and trafficking of human beings,” he said.
“States must work together to dismantle these criminal networks – by cutting off their financial flows, strengthening cross-border law enforcement cooperation, and holding perpetrators to account at every level.”
His fourth point emphasised the need to make “real and workable” regular migration pathways for students, workers, families, and people seeking safety and protection.
Expand opportunity
The international community must also expand opportunities in countries of origin through increased investment in education, skills acquisition and decent work, particularly for young people.
Finally, nations must invest in better cooperation, including on the issue of refugees “as people fleeing conflict and people seeking opportunity increasingly travel together.”
The second International Migration Review Forum will conclude on Friday, after four days of meetings, round tables and a policy debate focused on challenges in implementing the Global Compact alongside international efforts to achieve sustainable development.
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