Mexico will co-chair a new UN initiative established Friday which aims to change the negative narrative that exists in the world on migration, and instead highlight the contributions made by migrants to their destination countries. The so-called Group of Friends of Migration will also be co-chaired by the permanent representatives of Bangladesh, Benin and Sweden, and has already gained support from another 20 countries representing all regions of the world.
According to the Mission of Mexico to the UN, the initiative represents “an effort to offer and highlight a positive narrative on migration” towards the high-level summit on the subject to be held in the UN General Assembly next September 19.
The initiative says the effort “represents a vital space for informal discussion within the UN to exchange views on the multiple dimensions of migration, and to seize opportunities for cooperation at the multilateral level.”
At a meeting in which participated the deputy secretary general of the UN, Jan Eliasson, the permanent representative of Mexico, Juan José Gómez Camacho said that the discussion within the group can generate migration policies in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
In that sense, Gómez Camacho urged his counterparts to recognize that migration is a multidimensional reality of the twenty-first century, and not a series of regional situations.
Meanwhile, Eliasson welcomed the establishment of the group, and regretted that contemporary narratives on migration is generally negative.
He explained that with 244 million migrants worldwide, according to the UN, the international community has a responsibility to protect the rights of these people and exploit the potential transboundary movement.
“A good international solution is in the best national interest of all Member States,” said Eliasson.
Participants in the meeting expressed their intention that the group’s work goes beyond the summit and that this is only the beginning of an effort to empower migrants and to recognize them as subjects of rights and development actors.
