It is a great honor and privilege for me to be invited to be with you today. I would like to personally express my thanks to Minister Johansson, Minister for Justice and Migration, and the Government of Sweden for their gracious hospitality and continuing support.

Before I proceed, I would like to say something briefly about the organization I represent, the International Organization for Migration. IOM was established in 1951 and is currently the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. With 157 Member States and over 9,000 staff working in over 480 offices and 150 countries throughout the world, IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. The scope of IOM’s mandate and activities is vast. We have expertise and on-going projects in diverse areas such as humanitarian assistance in crisis situations, immigration and border management, migrant health, counter-trafficking, international migration law, migration and development, labour migration and assisted voluntary return and repatriation. And it is on the subject of labour migration, a field IOM is increasingly called upon by its Member States and partners to provide expertise and support that I wish to speak to you today.

IOM’s thesis is that “migration is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be managed”. Large-scale migration or human mobility is:

(a) inevitable given demographic and other driving forces such as disasters and labor demand;

(b) it is necessary if skills are to be available, jobs to be filled, and economies to flourish – Europe will need some 40 million workers at all skill levels by mid-century – workers that Europe will not have given its declining population;

(c) finally, migration is desirable if managed in a responsible, humane and dignified manner.

I would like to make three points:

1. Setting the scene: migration in a world in disarray

2. Promoting ethical recruitment through partnerships

3. Remaining challenges and the ways forward

I. Setting the Scene: Migration in a World in Disarray

We live in an era of unprecedented human mobility – a period in which more people are on the move than ever before – more than 1 billion in our 7 billion world. Of these, 250 million are international migrants, and 750 million are domestic migrants.

Migration is a “mega-trend” because of a half-dozen or so “drivers” or “root causes” of large-scale migration – demography; disasters; demand for labor; degradation of the environment; growing North-South socio-economic disparities; and the digital revolution.  As we speak, the world is experiencing the largest displacement and forced movement of people in recorded history: 60 million currently uprooted around the world.  Some 750,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year, and 3,500 have died on the way.

Europe’s neighbours to the south and east are confronted with the direct or indirect impacts of war, internal conflict, political instability, economic collapse and, increasingly, the environmental effects of a changing climate. The tragic drowning of more than 300 migrants off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013 was a moment of great sadness for all observers of migration. It should have been a wake up call. Since then however, hundreds of thousands of people have attempted the crossing and created a humanitarian crisis of historic proportions for a largely unprepared Europe. While focusing on the emergency in Europe, however, we bear in mind that Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are the generous but often unpublicized hosts for more than 4 million Syrians who have fled their homeland. We also need to recall the responsibility other countries hve been shouldering for many years: Ethiopia with 700,000 refugees; Kenya with 400,000, and Sudan with 200,000.

We remember also that we, the international community, can respond most effectively to emergencies, if we have comprehensive, long-term migration policies – policies that address all aspects of human mobility including providing access to regular avenues of migration as safe alternatives to irregular and disorderly migration. This is why labour migration will continue to stay.  

Labour migration, or the global mobility of workers, is an unavoidable part of contemporary world. As the demographic gradient between developed and developing countries becomes ever steeper, migration has to be seen as part of the solution, not just for European countries but elsewhere too. With falling fertility rates and ageing populations, natural demographic growth rates are decreasing in most OECD countries, as well as in China.

Today’s labour force of the 28 countries that make up the European Union comprises 235 million people. Of them some 21 million (9 per cent) are foreign-born. At current labour participation rates and in the absence of migration Western and Central Europe’s labour force would decline by over 50 million by 2050 (23 million during the period 2005-2025 and by another 43 million during the period 2025-2050  (Eurostat)). Even with current rates of migration the decline would still more than 30 million.

This brings me to my second point: how can we best ensure fairer, smarter, and more humane labour mobility?

II.    Ethical Recruitment and Partnerships as Key to the Protection of Migrant Workers’ Rights

The 2013 UN General Assembly Second High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development recommended that priority be given on the costs of migration – both physical and financial. One of the most enormous costs of migration is the malpractice of unethical migrant recruitment agencies – to whom both migrations and businesses fall victim.

A. Ethical Recruitment

Recruitment abroad is a daunting task for many EU businesses – small and medium enterprises – in the absence of ethical recruiters or widely accepted ethical standards. Unscrupulous recruiters extort large fees from desperate migrants – to the detriment of migrants and employers. Unethical recruitment agencies lure many abroad under false pretenses and false promises and unethical recruitment of migrants is a lucrative business.

Failure to respect the rights of migrant workers has a negative impact on workers and their families – as well as on the labour markets of countries of destination.  Ultimately this does not make business sense. A resounding call from last month’s “Ethical Trade and Human Rights Forum” was that there is no business case for “modern day slavery”.

Recruitment is often the first step in the labour migration process and when workers face high migration costs through the charging of recruitment and other fees, they are more at risk to exploitation and abuse.

This point has been recognized: ILO’s new protocol on Forced Labour in the obligations for multinational businesses under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act; and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.

B. Partnerships

Partnerships help us to respond to the challenge of unethical recruitment more effectively. Partnerships are needed to address the complexity of the issues and the confluence of jurisdictions, intermediaries and interests.

No one group on its own can solve the problems associated with unethical recruitment practices – governments need to do more to regulate recruitment activities; however, government regulation alone isn’t enough – companies, too, have an obligation to respect the rule of law and to ensure that workers throughout their supply chains are recruited fairly. 

The “International Recruitment Integrity System,” or IRIS, is being developed by IOM and the International Organisation of Employers with like-minded partners. IOM and IOE creating a voluntary multi-stakeholder certification system. The IRIS initiative will enable employers and brands to make better informed decisions about the procurement of recruitment services. Companies can thereby mitigate the risk of introducing links to labour exploitation and human trafficking in their operations.

This kind of public-private approach will, in turn, support increased business professionalism and good practice, and at the same time, bolster government efforts to eliminate unethical recruitment. My colleague, Lara White, will provide more information on IRIS and where we are to date in its development and implementation.

III. The Remaining Challenges and the Ways Forward

To wrap up my remarks, I will leave you with three challenges – challenges which, if not met, will constitute failure – not just in migration governance, but in creating and maintaining peaceful, prosperous societies.

A. First, we must find a way to change the migration narrative. The public discourse on migration at present is toxic. To change this, we need to build a robust constituency to change course. Historically, migration has always been overwhelmingly positive. My own country was built, and continues to be built on, the backs of migrants and with the brains of migrants. Migrants are agents of development. Migrants bring innovation. Migrants don’t take our jobs, they create new jobs. Migration and development belong together. It is our role as governments, intergovernmental organization, civil society, and the private sector to make sure that migrants’ potential in contributing to development is cultivated. 

B. The second challenge is learning to manage diversity: Demographics, and the aging industrialized world, together with other driving forces I described, mean that the countries of Europe and other industrialized countries need migrants.  Our societies will, therefore, inexorably become more multi-ethnic, more multi-cultural, and more multi-religious. To succeed in managing diversity will require:

• political courage – a willingness to invest in public information, public education, awareness-raising and dialogue.
• moving the debate from one of identity, to one of shared values and interests.  

C. The third challenge is partly related to the first two, namely, formulating and implementing a balanced migration policy; conjugating the seeming conundrum of national sovereignty versus individual freedom; and national security versus human security. 

  Conclusion

In closing, this year saw the adoption of the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – the world’s 2030 Development Agenda. Migrants, who are particularly susceptible to their basic rights being infringed or denied – are, for the first time, specifically recognised in the new goals. This puts empowerment and respect for human rights at the centre of 2030 agenda. Decent work for all is central to these goals; and the labour rights of migrants are specifically recognised under Goal 8 which promotes decent work. Only as part of an inclusive agenda that promotes and protects migrant workers, can the full development potential of migrants be fully achieved.