Migration Remains an Urgent Global Concern: Archbishop Tomasi

December 06, 2011: ‘Migration remains an urgent global concern today and the current economic crisis has more complicated the lives of migrants’ said Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. He made the statement at the 100th Session of the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) held between 5-7 December 2011 in Geneva

Reliable projections, the Archbishop said, indicate a probable growth in the international movement of people from the present 214 plus millions making migration a megatrend of the 21st century. This complex phenomenon directly involves and affects millions of human beings, their families, and the people of the countries of origin, transit and destination.

Migration becomes a test for the respect and implementation of human rights especially when policies are centered on control and national security, forgetting the equally important security of the persons on the move across the planet. The search for an efficient and comprehensive answer assumes greater urgency as new motives for emigration are given by natural and human made catastrophes, climate change and violence, Archbishop Tomasi noted.

IOM has been at the forefront of the answer to the needs of people on the move while maintaining a specific vision and a pragmatic organization. Increased cooperation within the multilateral system and a specific contribution by IOM to the debate on coherence of migration policies can make a significant and strategic contribution to attaining more assistance and protection for all migrants.

The Archbishop also highlighted the need to promote and strengthen a positive perception of migrants. Migrants should not be used as a distraction for lack of jobs and unresolved economic crises nor be seen as threats to security, Archbishop Tomasi said.

Modern communications raise expectations and aspirations of potential migrants by projecting often exaggerated images of societies and life-styles. Hence the factors to emigrate are no longer merely economic in nature, but also search for security and freedom, the possibility of personal and professional development and of a better quality of life.
The achievement of an adequate global management of migration flows, a positive understanding of them, and the approach to human development may seem long range goals.