Ambassador Albeto D’Alotto (Argentina)

Director General Michael Moller (UNOG)

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my distinct pleasure and honor to be with you today. Allow me to thank the Permanent Mission of Argentina for inviting IOM to take part in the inauguration of this outstanding work of art made by Argentinian artist Munu Actis Goretta, an internationally renowned muralist and a leading human rights activist.

I am particularly pleased that you have decided to honor migrant workers with this endowment as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, and the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The artwork is a poignant reminder of the sacrifice that all migrants make by leaving their homes, whether deliberately, as they search for better lives for themselves and their families, or unwillingly when fleeing from man-made or natural disasters. The mural captures both the sadness of departure and the hope for a better future – twin facets of the migration experience. 

I just want to focus on three things:

1. We live in an era of unprecedented development
2. The tremendous contributions migrant workers make
3. The need to uphold their rights as enshrined in the convention on migrant workers

I. A World on the Move

We live in a World on the move.  Ours is an era of unprecedented human mobility – more people are on the move than ever before – more than 1 billion in our 7 billion world.  One in every seven of us is a migrant.  

Migration is thus a “mega-trend” – and will remain so because of a “drivers” of migration: demography, demand for labor, distance-shrinking technologies, digital revolution, environmental degradation, socio-economic disparities, and disasters. Unfortunately, forced migration and desperation migration are also a mega-trend.  For example, 850, 000 irregular migrants entered Europe this year – more than twice as many as in all of 2014.  A further 3,500 have died – more than the death toll of 3,200 in 2014.

Forced migration is also a  global phenomenon: more people have been forced to migrate than at any other time since the Second World War – some 60 million – 20 million refugees; and  40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Forced migrants constitute a population the size of France.

II. Migrants’ Contributions to Their Societies

Having looked at the scale of migration, it is vital that we must also recognize the invaluable contributions that migrants make to their communities of origin and destination.

Were the world’s 240 million international migrants to constitute themselves as a nation, this new nation would have a population slightly smaller than Indonesia and somewhat larger than Brazil. Annually migrants send home, USD 435 billion dollar; this constitutes the GDP of a small or medium-size European nation such as Austria.  New York City’s migrants alone would make them the third largest city in the US after New York City itself and Los Angeles.

Migrants are important agents of development. The remittances they send back home may be spent on essential services such as health, education and housing, or put towards savings.

Beyond remittances, migrants also contribute to the transfer of knowledge, skills, and technologies learned from their communities of destination, back to their communities of origin. Migrant boost economies as they fill major labor gaps in countries that need them the most. Immigrants from developing countries contributed to an estimated 40 per cent of labour force growth in advanced economies in the past three decades. Migrants also spark creativity which is fostered in diverse multicultural communities.

III. The Need to Uphold Migrant Workers’ Rights

Given the travails that migrants endure, and the immense contributions they make, we owe it to them and their families to uphold their rights and welfare. This is what the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, is trying to do. As a core human rights convention, it recognizes that all migrant workers are entitled to legal protection within the international human rights regime. A human rights-based approach to migration brings the treatment of migrants as human beings to the forefront of all discussion and programming on migration, underlined by the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, empowerment, participation, inclusion, and accountability. By upholding the rights of migrant workers, states can manage migration in such a way that fosters a stable environment for migrants to live and work so that migration is leveraged for the development of the state.

Conclusion  

In conclusion, I see two challenges -- challenges the world must meet to recover its dignity and share responsibility. 

A. First, we must find a way to change the migration narrative. The public discourse on migration at present is toxic. 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.

B. The second challenge is learning to manage diversity: Demographics, and the aging industrialized world, together with other driving forces mean that many 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.   

Migration is as old as humankind. Migration is the world’s oldest poverty reduction strategy –  and is a key to a world in tune with itself. Turning migration challenges into opportunities for all requires good migration governance; a broad, durable consensus among a wide constituency; coherent, coordinated policies among partners.

I would like to end by congratulating the Government of Argentina represented by Ambassador D’Alotto, for this emotive and very timely initiative.