‘Ensure migrants’ human rights’

Governments across the world have been urged to acknowledge migrant people’s role in development and ensure their human rights.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 April 2014, 07:40 PM
Updated : 29 April 2014, 07:40 PM

Migration experts at a two-day meeting that ended in Dhaka on Tuesday also called upon countries to ensure that migrants regardless of their status were “protected, respected and fulfilled with access to justice”.

Bangladesh and Switzerland co-hosted the meeting that discussed migration issues for the post-2015 development agenda.

The meeting made six recommendations that included strengthening migration governance “to achieve a balanced, cooperative and equitable system that is safe, fair, well-governed and more beneficial for all”.

The governance system should be “culturally responsive”, they said, and recommended promoting the participation of all migrants in decision-making processes that concern them.

The meeting adopted a document with specific targets and indicators that would help the international community consider migration for the post-2015 agenda.

The document would be used as a reference point in negotiations at the 69th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, says the meeting's concept note.

Migration has become a key development issue with an estimated 250 million migrants remitting to their families back home $416 billion last year.

The meeting brought together experts and delegates from 58 countries including seven Middle Eastern states and international bodies to support the development benefits of international migration.

The experts also called for deepening work within “regional cooperative mechanisms” on migration to facilitate “easier” mobility of people, especially migrant workers.