According to some news reports, the UNO's Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has made a plea to all countries to gather and get together under the common/collective goal of establishing organized, secure and systematized ways and means of migration and to make more effective the obtainment of benefits of this phenomenon for the migrants themselves and for the society as a whole.
He stated that the process of migration should be underlined with hope and it should not entail risk and danger - both in terms of lives and livelihood involved - for those who are migrating. He added that, today, presently, one in thirty persons world-wide is a migrant, and noted that today’s societies and countries have a lot to gain when the process of migration is managed well and much to lose when it is not managed well.
He stated that the migrants wherever they may be from and whichever part they seek to migrate to, have undeniable human rights and that these rights have to be protected. He added that doing so, would also be benefit all of the others, as well.
Only last year, Mr. Ban had proposed a an eight-point plan on migration which entailed ‘protecting human rights, lowering of the costs of migration, ending of exploitation, assisting stranded migrants, raising of public awareness, integrating migration into the development agenda of nations and societies, gathering of more reliable data as regards migrants and migration and enhancing or improving partnerships’.
Mr. Ban also emphasized the importance of basing the rights of migrants firmly on fundamental rights. This he added meant, guarding and ensuring the rights of migrants and shielding them from discrimination, abuse, etc.
He expressed concern at the presence of detention camps and stated that these have a negative impact on the rights of migrants. But, Mr. Ban was also optimistic for the future and hoped that by positive polices, bringing about linkages between migration and development, etc., migrants and migration would be much better placed in the future.
