Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

International Migrants Day

December 18 is celebrated as World Migrants Day around the world. The objective of the day is to highlight the issues that compel the people to opt for migration and then the problems that they face during their endeavors. The Day was proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in December, 2000 after taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world. 
Later in September 2006, the 132 Member States participated in a High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, conducted by the UN General Assembly, wherein they reaffirmed a number of key commitments. First, they highlighted that international migration was a growing phenomenon and that it could make a positive contribution to development in countries of origin and countries of destination only if there are proper policies to administer the situation. Secondly, they emphasized that it was also essential to keep in consideration the human rights of the migrants as it would prove helpful in controlling the situation. Thirdly, they recognized the importance of strengthening international cooperation on international migration bilaterally, regionally and globally.
Since the 2006 High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, intergovernmental cooperation in the area of migration has increased markedly. Various regional intergovernmental groups and consultative processes have been focusing increasingly on the development dimensions of international migration, although they have done so in different ways and with different perspectives.
On September 19, 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a set of commitments during its first ever summit on large movements of refugees and migrants to enhance the protection of refugees and migrants. These commitments are known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (NY Declaration). The NY Declaration reaffirms the importance of the international protection regime and represents a commitment by Member States to strengthen and enhance mechanisms to protect people on the move. It paves the way for the adoption of two new global compacts in 2018: the global compact on refugees and the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.
Migration is an international phenomenon and needs proper attention and administration from international community. The migrants who leave their homelands in search of better life, in most of the cases undergo different sorts of hardships before they reach somewhere safe. Most of them even do not reach to the destination they set for and end up in detention center, refugee camps and even death. On most of the occasions they fall prey to the ill intentions of human-smugglers, who discriminate them as much as they can.
Furthermore, they have to go through severe kind of psychological depression and strain as they go through the worst sort of experiences. The migrants and asylum seekers are mostly from the third world countries that suffer from wars, conflicts and political and economic crisis. Finding no guarantee of secure life, they move towards the developed countries of the world in search of contentment and bliss but unfortunately, there are many who do not earn the fortunate end. The growing discontent in different parts of the world has made the number of migrants and asylum seekers rise considerably. Currently, the crisis in Middle East and North African countries has compelled so many migrants to leave their countries and find refuge in European countries.
Apart from that there are many who have travelled from Asian countries that suffer from conflicts, clashes and discriminations. Afghanistan is one of the most dominant countries in this regard. Decades of wars and terrorism along with droughts and shortage of basic requirements have compelled millions of people to leave the country.
Though there has been remarkable decrease in this regard, millions of Afghan migrants are still living their lives in neighboring countries (like Pakistan and Iran), European countries, Australia and America; while, there are thousand others who are still in different sorts of camps and detention centers around the world waiting for some sort of sympathy and attention.
As the movement of the migrants turns into a problem for the refugees and the countries from where they move, in the same way it becomes an issue for the countries to which they move. It is not always an easy task to control the flow of refugees by any government. It has to keep in consideration its own people and policies and at the same time has to respect the international policies and regulations regarding the rights of the refugees. Furthermore, it has to adjust for the compensation of the migrants who move in, and have to deal with the issues like multiculturalism, terrorism and racism, appropriately.
Though, the problems are great in this regard, the developed nations of the world do have the potential to absorb the shocks of refugee influx. Most of the European countries, America, Canada and Australia in this regard have been playing dominant role in compensating for the migrants and asylum seekers from different countries of the world.
Definitely there are political and diplomatic concerns for all the governments of the world to consider, but the issue of migrants is more important than such concerns, as it involves the precious human lives and the lives of human beings stand more sacred than any other concern, belief or ideology.