António Guterres calls on UN member states to adopt humane approach to migrants by making more travel routes available and protecting foreign workers

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The UN secretary general is urging the governments of member states to open up more routes for migration and take steps to promote and safeguard foreign labour.



António Guterres is calling for a collective shift to celebrate the international benefits of migration as part of an ambitious plan to create a more humane global strategy on the issue.

In a report published on Thursday, Guterres said political leaders must take responsibility for ending the stigma surrounding migration and dispel alarmist misrepresentations of its effects.

The report, entitled Making Migration Work for All, comes ahead of negotiations on a global compact on migration to be adopted by the UN general assembly later this year.

In September 2016, the 193 members of the UN general assembly unanimously adopted a non-binding political agreement, the New York declaration, which pledged to uphold the human rights of refugees and migrants and recognised the need for a comprehensive approach to international migration.

The declaration set in motion a series of consultations on how to deal with the needs of 258 million international migrants and is due to culminate in the formal adoption of a global strategy at a conference in Morocco in December this year.

In an opinion piece for the Guardian, Guterres said the first international agreement of its kind was an “unprecedented opportunity for leaders to counter the pernicious myths surrounding migrants and lay out a common vision of how to make migration work for all our nations”.

He said: “The best way to end the stigma of illegality and abuse around migrants is, in fact, for governments to put in place more legal pathways for migration, removing the incentives for individuals to break the rules, while better meeting the needs of their labour markets for foreign labour.”

The report stresses that migrants contribute financially by paying taxes and injecting about 85% of their earnings into the economies of their host countries. The remaining 15% is sent back home.

In 2017, an estimated $596bn (£440bn) was transferred in remittances globally, with $450bn going to poor countries – three times the amount of overseas development assistance.

Governments that crack down on migrants unintentionally encourage illegal migration and harm their own economies, Guterres warned.

Addressing an audience in New York, Guterres said: “Authorities that erect major obstacles to migration – or place severe restrictions on migrants’ work opportunities – inflict needless economic self-harm, as they impose barriers to having their labour needs met in an orderly and legal fashion.”

He described migration as a “positive global phenomenon” that powers economic growth, reduces inequalities and connects diverse societies.

The number of international migrants has grown by 49% since 2000 and now represents 3.4% of the world’s population, according to the UN.

It is often assumed the majority of migrants are men, but 48% are women, who tend to send home a higher percentage of their earnings than men, said the report.

While the vast majority of migrants move across borders legally and safely, Guterres highlighted the fate of the “thousands who die in doomed efforts to cross seas and deserts” as not just a human tragedy but “the most acute policy failure”.

His report condemned the use of short-term, reactive security approaches and draconian border controls set up to detain migrants in transit.

He recommended member states instead find “more credible pathways for migrants who do not qualify for international refugee protection but face insurmountable obstacles to return”.



The International Organisation for Migration said it welcomed the report’s recommendations.

A spokesman told The Guardian: “Most of the world’s international migrants already move through legal safe channels and it’s important to make this point, because you get a sense in the media and in politics that migration is something chaotic that involves flouting laws.

“The fact the report is urging countries to make assessments on future labour needs is also important. The world by 2050 will need 50m additional healthcare workers because of the ageing population.

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“We have a youthful south and an ageing north, a big economy in the north and growing economy in the south – are you going to have the planning in place to bring up low-cost labour to take care of your elderly?

“You will learn to love those people that are willing to do that work, so let’s plan for that day instead of focusing on the fact they speak a different language.”

The report precedes UN talks on the global response to migration, which have been controversially boycotted by the US.

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Hayley, informed Guterres in December that Donald Trump was not willing to continue US commitment to the UN global impact on migration.

The Trump administration is threatening to deport thousands of immigrants who came to the US illegally as children and were allowed to stay under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, which Trump has since scrapped.