98th IOM Council Focuses on Economic Crisis and Human Rights of Migrants
The 98th IOM Council, which gets underway next week in Geneva, will
continue an organizational focus on the economic crisis and the
human rights of migrants.
The Council, which runs from 23-26 November, will feature a
video-taped keynote address on the opening day by Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who draws upon her own experiences
as a migrant to express concern at the growing racism and
xenophobia towards migrants around the world.
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target="" title="">Human Rights and Migration
She will call for the human rights of migrants to be put at the
centre of global thought and action on migration, saying a respect
for such rights is a non-negotiable tenet of migration
governance.
President Sirleaf also details some of the impacts of the crisis
on Liberia such as a drop in remittances which represent a fifth of
the country's income. In a 12-month period ending September 2009,
Liberian migrants remitted USD 7.4 million less than the previous
year.
IOM Director General William Swing, UN Institute for Training
and Research (UNITAR) Executive Director Carlos Lopes, the UN's
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres and Sha
Zukang, Under-Secretary General of the UN's Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (UNDESA), representing the Global Migration
Group, will lead a panel discussion on 24 November on the group's
priorities in responding to the economic crisis.
The concluding International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) on
human rights and migration, will dovetail the two previous IDMs in
March and July 2009 which respectively examined practical ways to
overcome obstacles preventing migrants from fully enjoying human
rights in all areas of life and how to protect trafficked and
exploited migrants.
Among the speakers will be Fatima Mohammed Al-Balooshi,
Bahrain's Minister of Social Development, Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Colette Lespinasse of
Haiti's Refugees and Repatriated Persons' Support Group and Elly
Anita, the Trafficking in Persons Report hero of the year 2009,
from Migrant CARE in Indonesia.
Highlights of global and regional dialogues on migration in 2009
will also be discussed including the recent Global Forum on
Migration and Development in Greece and a look forward to next
year's gathering of the Forum in Mexico. In addition, the Council
will hear the outcomes of the Global Meeting of Regional
Consultative Processes held in Bangkok in June, the Migration
Dialogue for Southern Africa and on Sweden's focus on key migration
issues during its six-month EU Presidency.
To access the agenda and background papers, please go to:
"http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/policy-research/international-dialogue-migration/council-sessions/human-rights-and-migration-2009/lang/en#gmg">http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/policy-research/international-dialogue-migration/council-sessions/human-rights-and-migration-2009/lang/en#gmg
For further information, please contact:
Jean Philippe Chauzy
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int
or
Jemini Pandya
IOM Geneva
Tels: + 41 22 717 9361/+41 79 285 4366
or +41 22 7171 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int