Your Excellency, Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, High Representative of the Secretary General for the UN Alliance of Civilizations,

Your excellences,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is again an honour for me to represent the International Organization for Migration (IOM) at this Group of Friends annual meeting, as I have done in previous years.

We consider the UN Alliance of Civilizations as more relevant and more urgently needed than ever before. We are living in a period of unprecedented disasters, catastrophes and conflicts; in a period in which there are more people on the move than ever before compounded by rising anti-migrant, anti-foreign sentiment.

Our belief about the relevancy of the Alliance is based on three considerations. I will address these very briefly.

First of all, the Alliance of Civilizations is helping us to promote dialogue and our collective commitment to promoting inter-religious, inter-cultural, inter-faith dialogue. A dialogue that will address the fault lines within and between societies reflecting the theme of today’s meeting.

The second consideration is the Alliance is essential to helping us to manage diversity, one of the great challenges and opportunities of our time.  As more and more people are on the move, more cultures are intertwining and more societies are becoming diverse. Multicultural societies are more likely to be the norm now rather than the exception. One of the most important challenges of our time is to manage social, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity which is the wave of the future.

With this in mind it is important to acknowledge that migration, or human mobility, is inevitable, necessary, and desirable.

• It is inevitable because the demographics of the world population quadrupled in the twentieth century and will continue to grow until about mid-century. More people are on the move than ever before, are connected to the internet.
• Migration is also necessary if we are going to have the labour skills available and if our economies are to flourish. 
• Finally, migration is highly desirable if we have in place sensible, humane and responsible policies. Here I think the Alliance again is helping us all to govern migration in a more humane and responsible manner.

This is the age of migration. Migration cannot be stopped, cannot be contained. It is a phenomenon, brought to life by the dreams — and the nightmares — of the impoverished and the terrified.  Migration historically has been overwhelming positive, which is not what you hear today of course with stereotypes. Migrants embody the essence of multiculturalism, as they are the bridges between countries of origin, transit and destination. They are the spark that ignites new ideas, new impulses, and new thinking. So when people move they carry their skills but they also carry their traditions, their heritage, and their languages. However, there is a fear factor based on three reasons: the global financial economic downturn, the post 9/11 security syndrome, and most importantly the fear of loss of personal and national identity. So for all of these reasons we thank the Alliance for helping us to manage the diversity that characterizes today’s world.

The third consideration is that the Alliance is helping us to dispel destructive and dangerous stereotypes and mythology about migrants. Governments have a major responsibility to do this and the role of the Alliance helps us all to destroy these destructive stereotypes associated with migration.

So let me close simply by reiterating IOM’s and my personal commitment and support and urge all of us to continue strengthening our partnership with this Alliance.