UN okays Bangladesh's proposal on migration

The UN has accepted Bangladesh's proposal of creating “Global Compact on Migration” to improve the migration governance and protect them during the emergencies, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said yesterday.

“The UN member states decided to finalise and adapt the framework after two years of negotiation,” he told reporters after a discussion at the capital's Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), organised by BIISS in association with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The global compact may be a binding agreement for the member states that will have political commitment to protect the migrants and refugees under the UN framework, said an IOM official.

Over nine million Bangladeshis work abroad and send home annually some 15 billion dollars, but remain in vulnerabilities when caught up in situations like that of Libya crisis in 2011 and Andaman crisis in 2015.

When the migrants are caught up in such conflicts, there is no proper global body to protect them, Shahidul said.

The prime minister proposed for the global compact on migration in the UN General Assembly on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on September 19, he said.

Mohammad Abdiker, director for IOM Department of Operations and Emergencies in Geneva, in the keynote, said there is xenophobia against the migrants who are needed for global economy, but are often not wanted.

Saleemul Huq, director at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University of Bangladesh, said internal migration is equally important.

BIISS Chairman Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad and IOM Chief of Mission in Bangladesh Sarat Das also spoke.