Your Excellency, Ambassador Do Nascimento, Permanent Representative
of Angola in Geneva and President of the African Group;

Your Excellency, Ambassador Khadija Masri, Permanent
Representative of the African Union in Geneva;

Excellencies, Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps and
International Organisations, Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen:

Introduction

It is an honour to be here today and I am grateful to Ambassador
Masri for the kind invitation to participate in this distinguished
gathering.  I welcome this opportunity to offer IOM'
perspective on the very pertinent issue of the right to
development, which is so central to the African Union's work.

Today, we live in a world on the move.  Today, more people
are on the move than at any other time in recorded history: 214
million international migrants (including nine or so million
refugees), according to UN statistics; and 740 million internal
migrants. In other words, one in every seven persons is a migrant
– on the move.

Greater than the sheer number of migrants is the value of the
financial transfers -- remittances -- money that migrants send home
to their families and communities of origin.  Remittance flows
to developing countries amounted to some USD 338 billion in 2008,
according to the World Bank.  This figure represents money
sent through official channels only – add 50%, or more, to
obtain a rough idea of the real figure, including informal
transfers.  Remittances are two times larger than all Overseas
Development Aid; about as much as all global Foreign Direct
Investment; and in some cases account for up to 30 percent of
annual GDP for a dozen or more countries.  Remittances are one
of the largest cash flows in the world.

In Africa, most African migrants actually stay within Africa
rather than migrating to other regions of the world. 
Remittance flows to Africa are significant and in 2008 have been
recorded at USD 23 billion.

One would think that these striking figures would create a
positive impression of migrants and migration, but most of the hype
in the media and public discourse is negative.

Today, I would like to focus my remarks on a positive element of
migration, the potential of migration to contribute to development;
I would like to make three main points.

I. Financial Remittances

Firstly, it has to be fully understood that migration is not a
substitute for development and that remittances are private
funds.

In a very real sense, however, migration is itself a powerful
manifestation of an individual's right to development.  Since
time immemorial, people have left their place of birth and embarked
on long, often dangerous journeys seeking a new life and new
opportunities.

And, migration, that is humanly managed, can and does positively
support the right to development.  In the first instance,
migration directly alleviates poverty at the individual household
level.  Remittances allow households to purchase food,
healthcare, shelter and education – and thereby cover the
most basic of needs and provide livelihood opportunities.

But remittances can -- and do -- do more.  Innovative
diaspora programmes can effectively leverage the migrant's
contribution with public resources.  The Mexican 3 for 1
("tres por uno") programme –- where every dollar of
remittance money sent by a diaspora member through a dedicated
Mexican Home Town Association abroad is matched by a dollar from
the municipal, state and federal government in Mexico -–
makes a real difference in empowering migrants and promoting local
community development.

IOM – the International Organization for Migration –
has pioneered the idea of mainstreaming migration in development
planning.  This is done both at the conceptual level and in
practice; migration should be included in Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers.  One example here is the Joint Migration and
Development Initiative (JMDI) –- a virtual platform for
exchange of best practices relating to migration, development and
remittances, facilitating learning and capacity building among
practitioners.

Also, IOM has helped create organized remittance transfer
mechanisms that enable migrants to secure their transfers, reduce
the transaction fees paid, and pool their resources so as to
maximize the impact of these resources.. Tajikistan for example, is
one of the top five remittance receiving countries and one in which
remittances constitute around a third of its GDP.  In
Tajikistan,, IOM projects are assisting rural communities to use
remittances to develop sustainable livelihoods  -- this is
done through microcredit schemes, infrastructure investment and
education initiatives.

II. Social Remittances

But the contributions of migrants go far beyond the economic or
monetary dimension.  My second point is that social
remittances –- migrants' skills, knowledge and networks
-– are perhaps even more valuable in promoting the
development of the countries and communities from which they came.
Migrants represent untapped economic and social capital.

The African Diaspora and its involvement in development efforts
are indeed key priorities of the African Union and part of the AU
Constitutive Act.  IOM is working in close collaboration with
the AU Civil Society and Diaspora Organization (CIDO) in the
development of the African Youth Volunteer Programme.

IOM's Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) programme
provides a rich array of means for diaspora members to become
involved in home countries and share their expertise -–
whether (a) through establishing exchange programmes in public
administration or (b) university training or (c) by facilitating
the return of doctors and other health care workers from Europe to
Africa.

To support the right to development, our goal should be that
when migrants return home, they do so with new or improved skills
as well as capital to invest in their home communities: IOM is
working to identify means at every stage to help facilitate this
process.

III. Protecting Migrants and Raising
Public Awareness

My final point is this: protection of the human rights of
migrants is a fundamental requirement if migrants are to realize
their personal potential and actively support the development at
home. Integration of migration fully into development planning
requires an active public information programme to  informed
public opinion about migration.

Too often migrants are subject to discrimination, racism,
exploitation and other abuses in both transit and destination
countries.  Under such conditions, migrants struggle to get
by, let alone to support their families and home communities.

Ratification and implementation of the norms enshrined in human
rights instruments, with special reference to the situation of
migrants, is therefore indispensable in promoting the Right to
Development.  Provisions made in the African Charter on Human
and Peoples Rights, the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa,
and the Resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples
Rights on Migration and Human Rights represent important steps in
that direction.

In addition, more must be done to combat the negative
stereotypes of migrants.  Migrants are being blamed for taking
jobs away from natives; threatening public security; or abandoning
the home country in times of need.  Instead, the positive
contributions of migrants to both home and host countries are being
ignored.  Only when migrants' contributions are recognised
publicly will the real potential of migration be realized for human
and societal development.

Conclusion

In the coming weeks, IOM -- together with several of our
partners in the Global Migration Group, notably UNDP, ILO and
UNICEF -- will launch a Handbook on integration of migration into
development planning.  We are also now working to identify a
few countries in which to conduct pilot tests of the Handbook.

The goal is to ensure that the Handbook and other projects are
as valuable as possible for governments, practitioners and
decision-makers.

Thank you.

Merci.

Asante sana.