Members of the United Nations, on the eve of their VIP-packed annual UN General Debate and in the face of the recent wave of refugees and migrants, on Monday committed to working for a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration through a 2018 compact. [Special coverage]
The outcome document of this summit, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, "represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility," said UN Secretary-General Ban in his opening remarks. It means that "more children can attend school; more workers can securely seek jobs abroad, instead of being at the mercy of criminal smugglers."
"More people will have real choices about whether to move once we end conflict, sustain peace and increase opportunities at home," he said.
In response to growing xenophobia and as called for in the declaration, Ban launched a campaign dubbed "Together -- Respect, Safety and Dignity for all."
Also Monday, in connection with the Summit, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), formed after World War II, formally joined the UN family when Ban and William Swing, Director-General of the IOM signed an agreement for the agency to work with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Newly installed President Peter Thomson of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly said, "I will take forward the commitment of the membership to begin a process leading to a global compact on migration, as well as to support a global compact on refugees."
"The fate of millions of refugees and migrants rests with us," he said.
Peter Southerland, the special representative of the secretary-general for Migration, said in a message to the summit, "It is an issue fraught with peril, but also full of promise. Migrants and refugees are some of the world's bravest people, but also among the most vulnerable."
"Their success or failure is our success or failure," he said. "Our ability to protect refugees and to integrate migrants is a barometer of the health of our institutions, starting with the rule of law."
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the group's efforts was helping countries hosting refugees to improve the business climate for them with the aim of creating jobs, and was looking for longer-term solutions such as increased agricultural output in areas where refugees had settled. Much was riding on the Summit as the outcome would have a bearing on everyone' s future, he said.
Shri M. J. Akbar, India's state minister for external affairs, gave an explanation of the difference between migrants and refugees and some overall numbers.
"While the current plight of the refugees, be it from West Asia (the Middle East) or parts of Africa, is a direct consequence of the armed conflict situations obtaining there; the discussion about migrants relates to the forces of the ongoing globalization," he said. "The two phenomena are very distinct."
"Migration is a voluntary process, while refugees flee their homeland due to war and destruction," Akbar said. "To put the issue of refugees in perspective, the number of people on the move globally is estimated at close to 250 million -- one in every 30 persons. Refugees are currently estimated to be around 20 million -- one of every 12 persons on the move."
Perhaps the greatest current source of refugees is the 5-year-civil war in Syria. Two of its neighbors are hardest hit by the crush of refugees, Lebanon and Turkey.
President Tammam Salam of Lebanon's Council of Ministers, said in his prepared remarks, "The world is witnessing the worst ever crisis of forced population displacement in history, with all what this drama entails of sufferings, miseries, criminality, abuse of human rights and dignity, in sum, a devastation of people's destinies."
"This poses serious problems for our stability, our security, our economy, and our public services and the situation is becoming more dramatic by the day which does not bode well for the future of our country and for our future generations," Salam said. "Since the beginning of the crisis in 2011, over 100,000 Syrian babies were born in Lebanon," calling the population rise, "a perilously destabilizing trend of internal growth in numbers."
"It is unthinkable that Lebanon could, alone, cope with an existential challenge of such proportion," the foreign minister said. "This cannot continue!"
He added that Lebanon, a nation of 4 million people, is hosting 1.5 million Syrian refugees.
"My country is at the crossroads of irregular migration," said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu of Turkey. "With more than 3 million people, Turkey hosts the largest refugee population in the world. At the same time, we also continue a fight against human smugglers at land and at sea."
He said that while Turkey was able "to decrease irregular migration in the Aegean Sea by 95 percent in the last six months," it cannot continue alone.
"The world needs a better strategy to deal with irregular migration, and, we need it urgently!" Cavusoglu said.
He called for a three-point plan of action to, first, address the root causes of refugee movements, second, support countries' refugees and halt "negative rhetoric such as xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia towards refugees or migrants."
Cavusoglu said Turkey has spent more than 12 billion U.S. dollars on Syrian refugees while receiving only 512 million U.S. Dollars from the international community.
