International Migrants Day 2015, December 18th.

International Migrants Day, 18 December.

Международный день мигранта, 18 декабря.

Día Internacional del Migrante, 18 de diciembre.

Journée internationale des migrants, 18 décembre.

 国际移徙者日,12月18日.

 اليوم الدولي للمهاجرين، 18 ديسمبر.

 

 

Theme 2015 : " I am a Migrant ".

Tema del 2015: «Soy un Migrante»

 

 

Worldwide #IamaMigrant Candlelight Vigil to Remember Lost Migrant Lives

 

 

United Nations Secretary-General’s Message for the International Migrants Day 2015.

2015 will be remembered as a year of human suffering and migrant tragedies.  Over the past 12 months, more than 5,000 women, men and children lost their lives in search of protection and a better life.  Tens of thousands more have been exploited and abused by human traffickers.  And millions have been made into scapegoats and become the targets of xenophobic policies and alarmist rhetoric.

But 2015 was also a year in which the global community underscored the important contribution of migrants to sustainable development.  With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders vowed to protect the labour rights of migrant workers, combat transnational criminal human trafficking networks, and promote well-regulated migration and mobility.  By addressing root causes, the 2030 Agenda also seeks to tackle the development, governance and human rights challenges that are driving people to flee their homes in the first place.

The world urgently needs to build upon these efforts with a new global compact on human mobility based on better cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination, with enhanced responsibility sharing, and full respect of the human rights of migrants, regardless of their status.

We must expand safe channels for regular migration, including for family reunification, labour mobility at all skill levels, greater resettlement opportunities, and education opportunities for children and adults.  I also urge all countries to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; only one-fourth of UN Member States have done so. 

These principles and ideas will be part of the implementation of the roadmap to address the large movements of migrants and refugees that I have presented to the General Assembly. 

On International Migrants Day, let us commit to coherent, comprehensive and human-rights based responses guided by international law and standards and a shared resolve to leave no one behind.

Ban Ki-moon

 

IOM Director General William Lacy Swing Statements on International Migrants Day 2015.

To mark this year’s International Migrants Day on December 18, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on the international community to come together and remember the refugees and migrants who have tragically lost their lives this year.

IOM invites the international community to hold the first global Candlelight Vigil to commemorate the lives that have been lost or have disappeared while trying to reach safe harbour after arduous journeys across seas and deserts this year. Each person has a name, a story and left their homelands seeking better opportunities and safety for themselves and in many cases for their families - aspirations that all of us strive for.

In commemoration of the thousands of lives lost this year and each year during migration, IOM is encouraging the distribution of white wristbands with the inscription #IamaMigrant which will serve as the theme for the day as well as a powerful social media hashtag.

The Candlelight Vigil is a renewed opportunity to increase awareness on drivers of migration, and most importantly shift the narrative of migration towards a positive recognition of the many ways migrants contribute to host societies.

The candlelight should become the symbol of our solidarity with migrants and their families and remind us that for many, migration is often the only sliver of light left for millions of people around the world.
IOM will remain steadfast in ensuring that the international community stays fully committed to saving migrants lives.
We must ensure that their lives have not been lost in vain. We must not forget them.

 

 

 

 

Conferences and Events

• 25th Anniversary of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers, 18 December 1990 - 18 December 2015
• CMW-CRC Call for submissions on its Joint General Comment on the Human Rights of Children in the Context of International Migration in English
• Panel discussion with migrants and migrant advocates (on the occasion of the International Migrants Day)

(organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Friday, 18 December 2015, from 10:00 to 13:00, in Conference Room 11.

[All are invited. For further information, please contact Ms. Olivia Headon, IOM

(e-mail oheadon@iom.int; tel. 1 (212) 681-7000, ext. 221); please email rsvpnewyork@iom.int for registration.]

Action on Social media

• Use hash tag #MigrantsDay and #IamaMigrant to commemorate the international day and join the worldwide Candlelight Vigil to Remember Lost Migrant Lives

RESOURCES :

• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
• Ahead of International Migrants’ Day 2015, a group of United Nations experts* on the rights of migrants have called on Governments across the world to guarantee access to services for all migrants, regardless of their migratory status.  OHCHR
• The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants

NEWS:

• Press Statement by John Kerry, Secretary of State on the International Migrants Day 2015, U.S. Department of States.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary Wiesner addresses International Migrants Day in a Video Message December 18, 2015

 

 

 

International Migrants Day 2013, December 18

United Nations Secretary-General’s Message for International Migrants Day 2013.

International migration is a powerful tool for reducing poverty and enhancing opportunity. That is why there are now some 232 million international migrants bringing consistent benefits to countries of destination and origin through their essential labour and remittances. Yet, this important population remains largely invisible and unheard in society. Too many live and work in the worst conditions with the least access to basic services and fundamental rights, making them disproportionately vulnerable to extortion, violence, discrimination and marginalization. 
Almost half of migrants are women; one in ten is under the age of 15; forty per cent live in developing countries.  Poor and low-skilled migrants face the highest barriers to social mobility.  The United Nations is acting to safeguard the rights of migrants, lower the social and economic costs of migration, and promote policies that maximize the benefits of mobility.  Migrants should not be forced to risk lives and dignity seeking better lives. Earlier this year, the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, many of whom are migrants, came into force.  And, in October, United Nations Member States called for the post-2015 UN development agenda to take full account of the positive impact of international migration. They also committed to develop a framework for protecting migrants affected by humanitarian crises and recognized the need to facilitate international cooperation to address the challenges of migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner, with full respect for human rights.

On this International Migrants Day, I urge Governments to ratify and implement all core international human rights instruments, including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. And I call on people and Governments everywhere to reject xenophobia and embrace migration as a key enabler for equitable, inclusive and sustainable social and economic development. Migration is a reality of the 21st century. It is essential that we conduct an open debate on this important subject.  Let us make migration work for the benefit of migrants and countries alike. We owe this to the millions of migrants who, through their courage, vitality and dreams, help make our societies more prosperous, resilient and diverse.

Ban Ki-moon

This year was costliest on record for lives of migrants who died while crossing international borders IOM says.

• It’s Time to Take Action and Save Lives of Migrants
• Audio : International Migrants Day 2013  
• Join the forum : 18 December is International Migrants Day
• Animated infographic 

Calculating migrant deaths in border regions is a great challenge and the true number of deaths remains unknown.

 IOM DG’s Message on Migrants Day

For several years I have been saying that migration can be summed up by a series of D words: Demographics, Disasters, Demand, Disparities and Dreams. This year I am adding a new D: Desperation.

 The world watched in horror in October when some 360 African migrants lost their lives within sight of land while attempting to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa. Untold hundreds have perished on the journey from Indonesia to Australia, or off the coast of Thailand. Migrants from Central America are raped, robbed, beaten and killed as they try to enter the USA from Mexico. African migrants die of thirst in the vast desert reaches – their bones the only testimony to their failed journey. Why do people risk their lives and the lives of their families, over and over, every hour of every day when the best that awaits them is a frosty welcome? The answer is simple: Desperation. They fear staying in a land where they face persecution, or where their family starves. That desperation makes the risk of death a gamble they believe worth taking. Migrants face death, danger and disappointment in search of their dreams. They may be materially poor, and lack hope, they may take on massive debts from corrupt recruitment agencies or traffickers and smugglers in the hope of getting to a safe place, for a new start. They are often forced by economics and lack of land to the most dangerous places – the shoreline, the mountain slope, the riverside – and migrate because their shacks are washed away by climate extremes. We believe that 2013 may have been the worst on record for migrant deaths. We will never know the true total, as many migrants died anonymously in deserts, in oceans or other accidents. However, our figures show that at least 2,360 migrants died this year, chasing the dream of a new life. That’s over six a day; one every four hours. We live in an era of unprecedented human mobility, with more people on the move than any other time in recorded history. Natural disasters and conflict are adding to levels of migration: some 5,000 people a day left the Central Philippines following typhoon Haiyan last month. A further 100,000 fled fighting in the Central African Republic in December alone. For the poorest, most desperate migrants, borders have been shut over the years as countries respond to political drumbeats of alarm and move to curtail immigration.

 The paradox is that at a time when one in seven people around the world are migrants in one form or another (and more than 232 million people live outside their country of birth), we are seeing a harsh response to migration in the developed world. The few developed countries that are prepared to increase immigration levels generally want only highly-skilled, knowledge workers. The result is tightened border surveillance and reduced opportunities for would-be migrants. This, combined with political and economic upheaval, drives people into the hands of people smugglers whose unscrupulous trade is the fastest-growing sector in the organized crime world, estimated to be worth $35 billion a year. Migration is as old as humanity but we need to start thinking about it in new, smarter ways.

On this International Day we focus on the well-being and safety of migrants, IOM calls for strengthening of existing policies or develop new ones to protect human rights of those who leave home to seek better opportunities. We are ready to assist our member states and other partners in the development and implementation of those policies. We need measures that will enable employers in countries with labor shortages to access people desperate to work, and we need to ensure that these people are not exploited or exposed to gender based violence. We must work in a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach in the best interests of countries, communities and people, in particular migrants themselves. I am not naïve. Managing migration is complicated and we may need hybrid scenarios. Short-term migration visas, seasonal visas, portable social welfare – all these things are being pioneered in different parts of the world and I believe they are moves in the right direction. In 2016 there will be a World Humanitarian Summit: IOM will be asking how the global humanitarian community can ensure that political upheaval, economic stress and natural calamities do not always lead to a second round of challenges whereby desperate migrants, abandoned to their fate, are forced to take desperate measures.

 

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, the UN Human Rights Office and the International Labour Organization launch a series of cartoons to challenge myths and encourage a positive public perception of migration.

ILO/OHCHR Cartoon key messages

“The public debate is dominated by xenophobic attitudes and discrimination, both in and outside the workplace,” said UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay and ILO Director-General Guy Ryder in a joint statement.

Reject Xenophobia, Embrace Migration as Key Development Enabler, United Nations Secretary-General Says in Message on International Migrants Day 2013.

United Nations Audio Library : Special event on the occasion of the International Migrants Day on “Classroom conversation on migration and development”