Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Your Eminencies,

Excellencies and Distinguished Participants,

It is an honour to be in Rome to participate in this prestigious
event.

I am grateful to our hosts, the Holy See, for this opportunity
for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to address,
together with you, the important subject of "care for and
protection of migrants."

The theme you have chosen is timely and critical, for we live in
an era of the greatest human mobility in recorded history. In
percentage terms, perhaps not, but in sheer numbers there are more
people on the move today than ever before.

Since its establishment in 1951, IOM has carried out activities
to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of these migrants
the world-over, in particular refugees and internally displaced
persons; working closely with UNHCR, IOM has resettled more than 15
million people.

Each year, IOM spends more than $ 100 million on one way air
tickets to move refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and others
out of harm’s way, to safe resettlement countries. There are
similar outlays to address the need of victims of conflicts and
natural disasters.

During the past decade, IOM has grown exponentially from 67
Member States in 1997, to 127 today, and witnessed a commensurate
expansion of its programmes, staffing, offices and budget (US$
200million to 1 billion). This is testament to the growing interest
of States to develop migration management systems that are orderly
and humane.  IOM is honoured to count the Holy See among its
Observer States.

With that introduction, I have three points that I would like to
make today.

I. Human mobility: an inevitable and
necessary phenomenon

My first point is that migration is both necessary and
inevitable.  While the communications revolution may have
launched today’s movement of people (nearly 1 billion if we
add the 714 million internal migrants to the 215 million
international migrants), it is current global demographics, labour
market, economic trends and North-South disparities along with
climate change, that  will ensure continuing large-scale flows
of people throughout the 21st Century.

The migration challenge therefore demands responsible policy
decisions, on the part of us all; decisions that best serve the
national interests of host and home country and, of course, the
migrants themselves.

Failure on the part of Governments and the International
Community to facilitate human mobility sends the wrong message to
the developing world.

Many migrants, out of sheer desperation, may turn to human
traffickers, and put at risk their most basic human rights. 
Trafficking in human beings is one of the most heinous
international crimes of the globalizations era. Trafficking, to be
blunt, is a modern form of slavery. (IOM’s approach is a
three-fold one: Prevention, Protection and Prosecution. Around the
globe, IOM sometimes with the Church, establishes and maintains
shelters for victims of trafficking and, provides these victims
psycho-social counselling, job training and access to best
assistance.

At a time of economic downturn, such as at present, the positive
contributions of migrants to society are increasingly being called
into question and some Governments have adopted hardened attitudes
towards migrants, including criminalizing them. It is vital
therefore, thorough public information and public education
programs, to acknowledge the economic and social contributions of
migrants to global economic recovery and human development --- in
both developed and developing countries. 

Highly skilled migrant workers bring the knowledge and
innovation needed for economic recovery; low-skilled workers
contribute to economic growth by taking essential jobs that host
country nationals often shun.

Furthermore, migrant remittances remain a major source of income
for many countries.  Conservatively estimated at some US$ 300
billion per year, migrant remittances are twice as large as
Official Development Aid (ODA) and nearly two-thirds that of total
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in developing countries, and
roughly equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
IOM’s host country, Switzerland.

II. The migration-religion
partnership

My second point is that if migration is indeed inevitable and
necessary, we then need to evolve migration policies and systems
that address all aspects of the migration cycle. These include
border control, migrants’ human rights, migrants’
health, regional dialogue between countries of origin and
destination, and the involvement of civil society organizations,
including religious institutions and associations.

In this regard, religious institutions and associations play an
important role throughout the migration cycle.   In this
regard, IOM recently co-sponsored with the Moroccan government a
conference on "Migration and Religion in a Global Word" and
published a volume on this subject.

First, religious institutions play, as they have always played,
a crucial role comforting and assisting people in need, people who,
in search for a better life, or fleeing from war or persecution,
find themselves in dire straits. Religious communities and
associations provide housing, counselling and legal assistance to
migrants and refugees, as do we.

Second, religious institutions and associations play an
instrumental role in the integration of migrants into their host
societies.  Demographics are forcing even traditionally closed
societies to examine seriously integration as an additional option
in addressing their labour market requirements. Religious
communities and associations provide leadership training and
support to migrant associations. They promote language schools and
courses for vocational training.  They run homes for refugees
and for unaccompanied minors, for mothers with small children, and
other vulnerable groups. These associations play a supportive role
in the integration process, and governments are encouraged to
promote and facilitate their role.

Third, religious institutions and associations work with
communities to minimize discrimination and xenophobia and promote
migrant contributions to their societies. We all as partners need
to do much more in the area of public information and public
education.

III. IOM cooperation with Catholic
institutions and organizations 

IOM is proud of its cooperation with Catholic institutions and
organizations.  For example, we enjoy excellent cooperation
with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) in many
Refugee Resettlement programmes around the world; and with Caritas
in several post conflict countries; with Catholic Relief Service
(CRS) and with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, to name only
a few.

We also take particular pride in our work with the International
Union of Superiors General (UISG) on a programme entitled the "Role
of Religious Personnel in fighting Trafficking in Persons," funded
and launched together with the US State Department.

Under this programme, more than 450 sisters in 31 countries in
Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa, have received
counter-trafficking training. Spirituality contributes
significantly to the process of healing and self empowerment.

The importance of this work was acknowledged by His Holiness,
Pope Benedict XVI, in a cable (on the occasion of the last congress
of the Programme, organized this June by IOM and UISG). The Holy
Father expressed appreciation for what he described as a "audable
initiative" promoting the need for "a renewed awareness of the
inestimable value of life and an ever more courageous commitment to
the defence of human rights and the overcoming of every type of
abuse".

The cooperation between IOM and the International Union of
Superiors General has proven to be so successful that we hope to
extend this programme to involve men in addition to the sisters, in
future activities.  (Incidentally, IOM, with the UN and London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has just published a
Handbook on "Caring for trafficked Persons").

IV. Conclusion

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Your Eminencies, Excellencies and
Distinguished Participants,

Let me conclude by summarizing my remarks.

One: Migration is here to stay.  The question
confronting us is how to manage the migration process most
responsibly --- in the best interests of countries, communities and
people, in particular the migrants themselves.

Two: We have to develop a comprehensive approach to
migration; one that addresses all options available including
involvement of religious institutions and associations as valued
partners.

Three: We must come together as an international
community to harness the collective energy, expertise and resources
to promote the economic and social contributions of migrants to our
countries and communities and their countries of origin.

In closing, I wish to assure you that IOM is committed to its
fruitful cooperation with the Catholic Church in the interest of
promoting orderly and humane migration, in dignity and in full
respect of human rights.