Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Introduction

It is a distinct honor and privilege to be invited here today, and I wish to thank Minister Dijkhoff, the Repatriation and Departure Service of the Netherlands, and its distinguished General Director, Rhodia Maas, and the Ministry of Security and Justice for organizing this important meeting. The large number of migrants whose lives are at risk focuses our minds on the urgency of developing responsible and humane measures to address the complex migratory flows across the Mediterranean.

In this regard, IOM and I, personally, have publicly welcomed the new European Agenda on Migration and IOM has endorsed the EU’s new emphasis on saving life as the highest priority. Saving life is a critical first step in developing a comprehensive, long-term migration policy. (Minister Dijkhoff -- in his trenchant presentation -- just said that "saving life and safeguarding the rights of refugees and migrants must come first for all concerned.")

IOM has long advocated and actively supported a holistic migration policy approach— one that recognizes migration as a “mega-trend” of this century -- our “thesis” is that migration is:

• Inevitable--owing to demography and other realities;
• Necessary--if skills are to be available, jobs filled, and nations to flourish; and,
• Desirable--if well-managed through sensible, humane and responsible policies.

The logical conclusion is that migration is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be managed.

With these introductory remarks, I would like to emphasize 3 points:

1. Global Migration Trends (“a perfect storm”)
2. Managing Irregular Migration  (“weathering the storm”)
3. Three Challenges (“restoring calm after the storm”)

I. Global Migration Trends:  “A Perfect Storm”

A. Situation in Europe

Irregular migrants of all types are not new to Europe.  What may be new is the number on the move, and the increased numbers of refugees and others forced to move.

Last year, some 220,000 irregular migrants arrived in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean. This year, IOM has already recorded 88,000 landing in Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain. Whether on land or sea journeys, these migrants have left a “trail of tears” -- victims of criminal gangs of smugglers -- who torture, extort and dehumanize their victims. These “travel agents of death” are responsible for some 1,860 migrant deaths already this year.  

The tragedy of migrant suffering and death is unfolding around the world.  This is a global phenomenon. In the Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden, in the Caribbean between Haiti and Florida, the Sahara Desert, in Yemen—where IOM is evacuating tens of thousands of migrants; in South Africa where Zimbabweans and other Africans are fleeing xenophobic attacks, in the "Northern Triangle of Central American countries -- Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -- where insecurity and gangs force minors to migrate without their parents, and in the Aegean Sea, and in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea of Southeast Asia -- from which I have just returned.  In a volume entitled "Fatal Journeys", IOM has documented 40,000 deaths along migration routes since 2000 – a gross underestimate largely because most governments don’t maintain statistics of deaths on their borders.

B. Migration Today:  A “Perfect Storm”

Today’s irregular migrants, whether smuggled or trafficked or pushed to cope on their own -- are facing what I can only describe as a “perfect storm.” What do I mean by this analogy?

The following elements create this storm:

• Unprecedented human mobility with more people on the move than ever before:  one billion of the seven billion in the world.
• The percentage of these one billion who are forced by conflict or disaster to migrate is the largest since the Second World War -- more than 50 million people. Unprecedented numbers of simultaneous, protracted, complex crises and humanitarian emergencies, from armed conflict to political upheaval to abject poverty -- from the western bulge of Africa to South Asia -- Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan (which I have just visited), CAR, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shabab in Somalia, Ukraine, Burundi on the eve of elections and Ebola in West Africa.
• Some 22 million persons displaced by natural disasters such as the recent Nepal earthquake
• A vacuum of leadership in a world in disarray, together with an erosion of international moral authority, with International Humanitarian Law being violated on all sides and the UN Security Council often sidelined on issues; there are unfortunately no viable political process or active negotiations at present, that offer any hope for a short or medium term solution to any of these conflicts I have just mentioned
• Unprecedented anti-migrant sentiment amplified by a growing fear of terrorists, combined with unprecedented demand for migrant labour in ageing countries -- from Europe to East Asia.
• Decreasing public confidence in governments’ ability to manage the migration linked with these disasters -- and with their own countries’ business requirements.

C. Today’s “Drivers” of Migration, or its “Root Causes”

1. Demography. An aging North in need of workers – some 40 million in Europe by mid-century – and a youthful, jobless South.
2. Disasters. Political, military and natural varieties.
3. Demand for Labor. The lure of improved working and living conditions in Europe amidst stability is certainly a strong “pull” factor amidst the dominant “push” factors
4. Divergence. Socio-economically between global North and global South.
5. Degradation of the environment and climate.
6. Digital Revolution. Today, nearly half the world’s population has access to the Internet and, therefore, to instant information on where the jobs are, and places to avoid.
7. Distance-shrinking technology that enables one to get to places quickly and cheaply.

The tragedy in the Mediterranean is a result, in large part, of social, economic and demographic inequalities; instability and conflict; weak governments; and failed migration and asylum systems. A comprehensive response has to include short, medium and long-term interventions. Urgent action is needed to address immediate humanitarian needs, save lives and to protect rights. It is also urgent to address the structural causes and underlying drivers of the present situation. The response must be led and shared simultaneously in countries of origin transit and destination. We need to re-focus our cooperation with one another, recognizing that our challenges and responsibilities are shared and inter-linked.

This is, by any estimate, a grim and bleak portrait of our world today. But, if we accept current realities and respond by developing the right policies -- policies that address the urgent short-term, medium-term and longer-term -- all our countries and people on the move can turn the current situation into a manageable one -- one that will benefit us all. What are some of the elements of a "high road" set of policies‎ that would help us "weather the storm".

II. Managing Irregular Migration: "Weathering the Storm"

First of all, it is important to put the current crisis in perspective. Lebanon’s population of 4.5 million hosts more than one million Syrian refugees; Jordan hosts more than half a million. The 200,000 migrants who arrived irregularly in Europe last year hardly pose a threat to the EU’s combined population of 550 million. In Asia, the 7,000 who were at sea last week pose no threat to the Southeast Asian states of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia which have a combined population of some 350,000 – but were they to die at sea, this would be a major tragedy. 

In these circumstances, it is indispensable for a return and reintegration programme, to be an integral part of a larger, comprehensive migration package. A “high road” response will keep us all -- migrants included -- safe from the flood waters of the “perfect storm” and ensure that migration benefits both nations and migrants themselves.

In a high road migration scenario, our first priority must be to save lives and to protect the rights of migrants. If we compromise this priority, then we have collectively failed our responsibilities. If migrant lives are saved, an entire range of alternatives are available.

1. Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration

One of these alternatives is IOM’s decades-old programme of “Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration” -- first applied in 1979.  For those migrants who have been determined as having no need of international protection, or any other legal right to remain, a range of options should be considered, including assistance to help them voluntarily return home and receive reintegration support.  I sympathize with the reasons why economic migrants risk their lives to find employment and a better life. I also recognize the need for a mechanism to assist them to return home if that is the only legal option available to them.

Under the current circumstances, we must support these individuals and their communities at home, to provide them with the decision-making power and freedom to choose to migrate, not to be compelled by desperation to migrate through illegal channels. If returns, reintegration and community support is not a priority, we know that they will undertake the same perilous journeys again. 

The reintegration portion of the AVRR programme is vital. It allows migrants to re-start their lives, greatly reducing the likelihood that they will again risk their live along migratory routes.

2. Government Capacity Building to Manage Migration

Increasing regional capabilities to monitor, identify and rescue migrants in distress at sea is imperative -- requiring effective search and rescue teams and onshore assistance, both vital to saving lives and providing adequate protection. 

3, Arrest and Prosecute People Smugglers 

Criminal networks employing human smugglers and human traffickers have been implementing a brutal and effective business in this region and in the world.  The annual earnings of traffickers and smugglers are thought to be in the range of USD 35 billion. One of the recent “ghost ships” heading to Italy netted USD 2 million for the smugglers. A regional strategy must include mechanisms to address the root causes for these conditions and mechanisms to counter them. Unfortunately, despite a global alliance against traffickers and smugglers, we have hardly made any impact at all on arresting and prosecuting the kingpins in these criminal operations.

Having a better understanding of these networks, the routes that have been taken, and the recruitment techniques they use, will allow us to better defy this callous business and to stamp out the trade.

4. Humanitarian Border Management

By implementing humanitarian border management, law enforcement agencies can be supported to ensure that their borders are safe, free from the criminalities of human smuggling and trafficking, and those in distress or in need of protection may enter. This approach assists agencies in distinguishing between the criminals and the victims in a humane and comprehensive manner. Two good recent examples of humanitarian border management are the six neighbors of Libya and the four neighbors of Syria who have given refuge to those fleeing these conflicts – and did so at their own expense.

5. More Avenues for Labor Migration

Beyond addressing the reasons why individuals turn to smugglers and traffickers, we have an opportunity to provide people with another option.  Increasing legal avenues for labor migration in the region will take the wind out of the sails of the smugglers and traffickers. The expertise exists within our organizations and governments to provide alternatives; more legal alternatives, such as humanitarian visas, temporary protective status, short-term visas, seasonal worker visas, circulation migration, temporary re-location, resettlement and integration.

Countries of origin also have their responsibilities to facilitate intra-regional labor mobility for those in search of better lives, and ensure the credibility of migration policies by meeting their obligations under the Palermo Protocol’s Article 18, to facilitate the return of smuggled migrants who are nationals or who have permanent residence in their respective countries.

6. Public Education, Awareness-Raising and Information Campaigns in countries of origin, transit, and destination.

The people need to know the basis of our migration policies and how they serve the national interest. They need to understand why the quality of one’s welcome and the extent to which migrants are allowed to make their contribution to both host and home societies and why migrants access to public services such as health and education are in their and the national interest. As part of such efforts, IOM will soon send a technical team to Libya to explore -- primarily with Mayors -- the possibility of establishing "Migrant Reception and Processing Centers", similar to those in Lampedusa, Sicily and Malta, with EU support. We are doing a similar pilot project in Niger.

7. Dialogue and cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination.

The Rabat Process, the Khartoum Process, and the Horn of Africa Migrant Route Initiative need to be supported and accelerated. I shall be attending the Africa Union Summit next weekend in Johannesburg where it is hoped that the continent’s leaders address themselves to the question of migration.

8. Finally, laws are important – especially those that de-criminalize irregular migrants, provide for migrants to be housed in open reception centers, not in detention facilities.

These are just a few aspects of a “high road” scenario to ensure that we weather the “perfect storm” and, in so doing ensure that both states and migrants benefit.

III. "Restoring Calm after the storm" - Three Challenges:

In conclusion, I would like to highlight three challenges which I believe we must overcome if we are ultimately to succeed in ending the tragic death of migrants in the Mediterranean and around the world, and to succeed in making migration a positive force in all our lives. We have a shared responsibility in the endeavor to create a comprehensive and effective approach to the tragedy of migrant deaths around the world and on our shores.

None of these policies and approaches will bear fruit without addressing the public and political challenge of migration. To do this effectively will be exceedingly difficult – difficult because this requires political courage and moral fibre, both in rather short supply these days, it would seem.

A. Changing the Migration Narrative

We all have a common responsibility to change the current negative migration narrative to one that is more balanced, one that recognizes that, historically, migration has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of our countries, such as mine, have been built on the backs and with the brains of migrants. We must work to eliminate the misleading stereotypes and dangerous mythology about migration and migrants and eliminate the stigma associated with migration. An honest and evidence-based dialogue should provide the basis for improving the public understanding of the benefits of migration.

B. Managing Diversity

Demographic, socio-economic and other imbalances mean that our nations will become inexorably more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious. As with our responsibility to change the migration narrative, it will be important to provide public education, public information, and public awareness-raising forums and campaigns to prepare our people for these changes. We will need to shift the debate from one focused on “identity” to one that centers on shared “values”.

C. Migration Formula

There’s a third challenge, and that is to find a migration formula that satisfactorily conjugates the paradox between:

• national security and human security, and
• national sovereignty and individual freedom.

If we get close to balancing these, we will know that we are on the right path to a successful, comprehensive migration policy.

As we face the continuation of simultaneous, unprecedented and complex emergencies in nearby regions, people will continue to flee and resort to migration as a coping mechanism. To face the challenges associated with such scenarios, the international community needs to promote and abide by commonly shared values that will address the risks to such mobility, and tackle the root causes. Migrant deaths are an on-going and global tragedy in slow motion. To stop this and to save lives, we need comprehensive and collaborative action.