Celebrating the Contributions and Opportunities of Migration
International Migrants Day gives us a special opportunity to shine a spotlight on the invaluable contributions of millions of migrants around the world. It's also a day for us to highlight the increasingly complex environment in which migration occurs. Conflicts, climate-related disasters and economic pressures continue to drive millions of people from their homes in search of safety or simply opportunity.
This past year, we saw record levels of internal displacement, rising humanitarian needs across ongoing and new crises, and, tragically, the highest-ever death toll of migrants in transit. Yet, alongside these challenges, are stories of resilience, progress and hope. Where safe and well-managed migration holds extraordinary potential. Migrants play critical roles in labour markets, filling skills gaps, driving innovation and entrepreneurship, and addressing demographic challenges in aging societies. Migrants boost economic growth and provide a lifeline to families and communities back home, driving development.
The evidence is overwhelming that when migration is managed safely and strategically, it can be a powerful force for good. By supporting regular pathways for migration, we can enable opportunities for migrants, better protect their rights, and contribute to greater prosperity in the countries migrants come from and those that host them.
Together, one step at a time, we can continue building a world where migration is safe, orderly, and beneficial – for everyone.
Towards Safer Migration: 2024 GCM Implementation Report
Since 2014, nearly 70,000 migrants have died or gone missing along land and sea routes, with the true number likely much higher. Each recorded death represents a person whose loss deeply affects their family and reverberates throughout communities and societies. This is a silent humanitarian crisis, and it’s one we can solve.
As called for by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General’s third report on GCM implementation introduces on providing humanitarian assistance to migrants in distress and strengthening cooperation on missing migrants, including concrete proposals to prevent migrants from dying or going missing, enhance search and identification efforts, support affected families, provide justice, accountability and redress, collect data on migrant deaths and disappearances and share migration forecasting data to optimize humanitarian assistance.
These recommendations are only effective through collective action. Time is running out, and lives must be saved now.
Read the on Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration by the Secretary-General. Watching the video to learn the key recommandations.
